Sweet potato, carrot, and ginger soup

The leaves are changing, the air is chilly crisp, and I can’t get enough soup! I absolutely have to share my method for the most amazing, nutritious, filling, comforting, soup ever. It’s so easy to make: 15 minutes without broth. 75 minutes with homemade broth. Here’s how the magic happens:

Step 1) Make your broth. We buy beef bones ($2.00) from Tara Firma farms and boil them for one hour for a calcium-infused beefy flavored base. You can also use boxed broths, bouillon, or no broth at all.

Step 2) Remove beef bones. Sloppy chop one onion. Throw in some whole garlic cloves. So the base is always broth, onion, and garlic–celery if I have any on hand. Here’s a great link to making homemade calcium-rich broths: http://www.bostonmamas.com/2009/07/calcium_through_bone_broths.html

Mushrooms simmering in beef broth

Step 3) The fun part: Add your vegetable combos. We make huge pots because we eat a lot of this for breakfast, snacks, and supplements to lunches and dinners. My weekly ones lately are:

• a whole head of red cabbage, tomatoes, and beets for a crimson bowl of goodness.
•  Sweet potato, pumpkin, and a whole bag of carrots–a lovely orange hue packed with beta carotene.
• Three kinds of mushrooms, leeks, and a couple tiny red potatoes. For tomato and basil throw in several tomatoes and a huge bunch of basil and more garlic.
• Red and green chard, kale, rosemary, oregano, and a few red potatoes for thickness.
• Broccoli, zucchini, spinach, and any fresh herb.
• Cauliflower, leeks, and any vegetable you have in the fridge.
• I select the vegetables by the color the soup will turn out once it’s pureed.

Step 4) Bring broth, vegetables and herbs to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes. Using a hand blender (it takes less than two minutes to puree and rinse the blade), puree your soup to smooth, creamy perfection without adding a drop of butter, cream, or milk. Adjust the seasonings–salt, pepper, cayenne, fresh herbs, etc.

Step 5) Drink your vegetables! These soups are low in calories, satisfying, filling, and overflowing with antioxidant nutrients, anti-inflammatory nutrients, and anti-cancer nutrients in the form of glucosinolates. Enjoy the warmth!