sick day green soup

I woke up this morning to my 5:30 alarm with every intention of going about my normal day. After showering, drinking my coffee, watching the news, and eating breakfast, I realized I was feeling really bad and could hardly get myself off the couch to keep getting ready, so I decided to take the day off from my internship. I ended up going back to bed for almost four hours, and to be able to get back to sleep that easily after doing so much of my morning routine (including caffeine!) means I really needed it. I also really needed something warm and healthy to eat, so I was excited to see just the thing on one of my favorite blogs, Kath Eats Real Food. Yesterday kath posted about her greens+beans soup and I knew it was just what the doctor ordered. It was super easy to make, super healthy, and gave me a chance to finally use my immersion blender for soup (I've only used it to make smoothies). You can head over to Kath Eats for the recipe, but here are some highlights from my soup making.


Gathering ingredients. I really am a big fan of frozen veggies, especially in soup, since the texture doesn't matter as much as just eating them on their own. No chopping, no washing, less cooking time. Love!

 2 carrots, half of a red pepper, ~2 tablespoons olive oil, and a tablespoon of minced garlic went into the pot

green soup started out orange+red!

 

My new-ish green stock pot, which I got for Christmas. Green soup in a green pot! After the fresh veggies were soft, the other ingredients went in.

 Ten or so minutes later, I blended it up. My soup didn't turn out quite as bright green as Kath's did, but is was delicious! I definitely think it's easier to eat a larger amount of vegetables when they're blended like this. It makes it seem like you're eating a creamy soup, but it's all just vegetables and beans.

I also had some salad with my soup dinner tonight, so I decided to make my favorite balsamic vinaigrette dressing. It's seriously so good that when I get on a kick of making it, I crave salad. I tried making it in a new way this time by throwing all of the ingredients into a mason jar and it was wonderfully simple!
First a little balsamic vinegar goes in, plus some spicy mustard (maybe a teaspoon or two?).

Shake it up! Add salt slowly, tasting as you go. When it tastes good, add some olive oil. Done.

Salad with lots of blue cheese and the vinaigrette. So good!

I added some shredded cheddar to the soup per Kath's suggestion. I'm looking forward to more green soup for lunch tomorrow!