Leaving work knowing you won’t be coming back for over a week = best feeling ever! Vacation begins today for us; we are off to Iceland tomorrow for 10 days of hiking, waterfalls, glaciers, caves, volcanos and hot springs. We planned the itinerary ourselves and are staying in a different place almost every night. In the past I’ve been all about the do-nothing beach vacation and planning an action-packed trip was stressful, but I’ve spent a lot of time researching and am beyond excited. Armed with my detailed planning spreadsheet and google map driving instructions I’m ready to start exploring!!
In honour of the chilly weather waiting for us, I give you soup!
This bright green vegan Asparagus Zucchini soup is refreshingly simple and has absolutely no added salt. There’s not even vegetable broth in the ingredients – just wholesome fresh vegetables blended with water and spices. It’s definitely a soup you can feel good about!
I’m trying more and more to experiment with recipes that replace salt with spices. Before my Dad’s stroke I didn’t know anything about sodium … my idea of looking at food labels was checking the calorie and fat content. When he was coming home from the hospital they told us that he should be having no more than 1500mg per day. The recommended daily intake in Canada is between 1000 – 1500mg of sodium a per day with the upper limit of what we should consume being 2300mg. Ok, sounds easy enough… but when I stepped back to examine what I was eating on a day to day basis I realized it’s incredibly easy it is to blow through that. However, I’ve also learned how incredibly easy it is to stay within a reasonable range when you are eating simple whole foods. Fruits and vegetables to the rescue!
Asparagus Zucchini Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 leek
- big bunch of asparagus (approx. 35), woody stems removed
- 1 zucchini
- 1 cup water
- 4-5 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1-2 pinches of cayenne pepper, to taste
- fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Finely chop leek using only the white portion and add to large saucepan with minced garlic and canola oil. Heat over low-medium until leeks are aromatic and starting to turn translucent (approx. 2-3min).
- Add chopped zucchini and asparagus with 1 tbsp water and continue to heat until both zucchini and asparagus are tender (approx. 10-15min).
- Combine with 1 cup of water in a high-speed blender (we use the Blendtec) and blend until smooth.
- Return to pot and add lemon juice, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and black pepper. Stir well and serve.
