Thursday, December 5, 2013

Curried Carrot Soup: A Conscious Cleanse Recipe

I love making and eating big pots of soup. Fall and winter is perfect for soups, but, honestly, I make and eat soup year round.

One of our favorite soups lately is a curried carrot soup. It’s a Conscious Cleanse recipe, and Jo and Jules, the founders of the Conscious Cleanse, have given me permission to share their recipe with you. It’s super easy yet very flavorful.

Curried Carrot Soup
from The Conscious Cleanse book, p. 254

Yield: 8 bowls

Ingredients
  • 3 TB coconut oil
  • 2 tsp curry powder
  • 8 medium carrots, peeled and sliced thin
  • 4 medium stalks celery, chopped
  • 1 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped
  • 5 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 TB freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 2 tsp sea salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
  1. In a medium saucepan over low heat, cook coconut oil and curry powder, stirring, for 2 minutes.
  2. Stir in carrots, celery, and yellow onions; toss to coat, and cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes.
  3. Stir in vegetable broth, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes or until vegetables are very tender.
  4. Allow to sit for 1 minute, and skim grease from top of soup.
  5. In a blender, working in batches of no more than 2 cups, puree soup.
  6. Return soup to the pot, and heat through.
  7. Season with lemon juice, sea salt, and black pepper, and serve.
  8. Refrigerate leftover soup in a glass container for 3 days.

This soup is great over brown or black rice or quinoa. Thanks Jo & Jules for letting me share the recipe!

Conscious Cleanse Thoughts
 
Andy and I did the pre-holiday Conscious Cleanse in November, and I am very glad we did. Since doing my first Conscious Cleanse in January, I have been incorporating quite a few things from the Conscious Cleanse program into my daily life, such as:
  • starting the day with 32 ounces of warm lemon water
  • having a big, green smoothie most days for breakfast
  • eating lots of veggies (even more than before I did the cleanse)
  • being mindful of when, how much, and why I eat
Friends sometimes ask me why I’m doing yet another cleanse when I am already eating so healthy. I tell them that doing the official cleanse is always a great way to fine tune things a bit further and to eat as clean as possible for a few weeks and thereby giving my body a “break.” It’s also a great time to recognize that I don’t need quite as much sugar and salt (condiments!) as I can get used to at times…

It’s also a great time to make some “me time” as self-care is an important aspect of the cleanse. It’s really about so much more than just food.

I’m very thankful that I changed my eating in January because of the Conscious Cleanse. I have lost some weight and feel great. Most of all, I’m truly thankful that my painful stomach issues are gone because the cleanse helped me confirm my sensitivity to gluten and eggs.

The November cleanse was Andy’s second cleanse, and this time around he noticed how gluten affects him a bit more. We took pictures before the cleanse and after the cleanse, and he is clearly a lot more puffy looking before (and after he added gluten back into his diet). He also gets flushed and tired after he eats gluten. His symptoms aren’t bad enough for him to completely eliminate gluten, but it’s good information to know.

The next Conscious Cleanse starts on January 11, 2014. It’s a great way to start the year off right and work on some lasting eating and living changes and make 2014 a great year. Registration for the January cleanse opens on Friday, December 6, 2013. Use code EBCC114 for $25 off registration valid through Sunday, December 15th. Click here to register.

Questions: Do you like soups? If so, do you eat them more in fall and winter, or do you eat them year-round like me? What is one eating/drinking habit you’d like to “clean up?”

Be well,
Andrea