A soup of diced vegetables simmered in a pot, and stirred with love is so very wholesome and heart warming, especially at this time of year. A steaming bowl of soup soothes the spirit after a long day, gently awakens digestion in the morning, and fills our bodies with warmth and nourishment.

The simple act of slicing, stirring, and tasting as you make magic in your kitchen is calming and centering. In our soupmaking, we can be as creative or as simple as our mood dictates. Simply seasoning with sea salt or miso- if life has felt too complicated, will hit the spot; or adding curry, coconut milk, and spices from all over the globe will give you more variety and energy.

In fact, the same batch of soup can be seasoned simply for one person in your family, or more spicy for others by encouraging everyone to add different herbs, garnishes and condiments into their own bowl. Just set them all out on the table, and invite everyone to play! Most important is to be bold, experiment, and let your creativity fly! Soup can easily be the main attraction at your meal, by itself or served with a whole grain.

Great additions to your bowl are, fresh squeezed lemon, fresh cilantro, parsley, dill, roasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds, sautéed onion, curry powder, any herbs and spices. In the winter months, you can add a dash of cayenne pepper, or finely chopped garlic and ginger to add heat to your body, and support your immune system.

Keep your soup chunky- filled with bite size pieces of wonderful veggies, add protein with chicken, meat or fish- or you can puree.An excellent tool to add your kitchen is a hand blender- you can use it right in the pot to make creamy blended soups. (A cool way to sneak in the veggies!)

Soups are a great way to incorporate important nourishing foods into our daily diet such as grounding, root vegetables like daikon radish, turnip, carrots and burdock root. Sea veggies, loaded with important trace minerals help to break down the protein in beans, and assist in digestion. It’s ideal to use homemade stock from chicken or beef bones or veggie stock from your veg scraps.

When cooking beans, do not add salt until the end of cooking- it toughens the skins and prevents the beans from cooking completely. When seasoning with miso, (a salty fermented bean paste, high in important enzymes for digestive health) add at the end of cooking and stir until dissolved. Do not boil again as boiling destroys the active enzymes. You can always add the miso into each bowl so you can easily reheat the soup.

Below is a recipe for Autumn Harvest Soup- use what you have and experiment.
Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients
1 cup aduki, mung beans or lentils
3″ piece of kombu seaweed, broken into postage size pieces
5  cups of veggie, beef or chicken stock
1 butternut and 1 acorn squash, seeds removed, and cubed into bite size pieces (do not peel)
2 onions sliced
4-5 carrots cut into chunks
1/2 head of cabbage sliced
2 red peppers chopped
2-3 tomatoes
3 small potatoes cut into chunks
1 bunch of collard greens or kale cut into bite size pieces (use the stems chopped)
sea salt or miso to taste
cream freche and fresh parsley for garnish

1. Cook beans with kombu and simmer in stock for 30 min.

2. Add veggies and bring to boil covered, then lower to a simmer for 1 hour- soup is ready when beans and veggies are soft.   Stir occasionally and infuse with love and good wishes

3. Season with sea salt to taste, and garnish with your favorites (ideas above)

4. Eat and enjoy!