This "Cheezy" Kale Soup May Surprise You

It's Wednesday of a short work week and I'm already looking forward to the weekend. Having an extra day off gave me more time for fun, relaxation and time in the kitchen.  It has me craving more.  Kind of like when I eat something not so healthy a sugary food, I just want more.  It's addicting, that time I spend chopping, mincing, washing.

I forgot to share with you that over the weekend, in addition to experimenting with baked goods, my pressure cooker got a workout!  My freezer is now well stocked with four different types of beans.  They will last us a few weeks.  We tend to use a lot of beans.  They are a great food to help you feel full.  It may seem that beans are calorie dense, but not all the calories are absorbed.  As a matter of fact, because beans do not digest completely, fats bind to them and are passed through your body.  That's why beans are known to lower cholesterol.  So that old saying of "Beans, beans the magical fruit..." well, it's true.  They are magical!  Eat them at every meal!  Well, maybe not EVERY meal, but a couple of times a day so that you get at least one cup each day.

Beans... that brings me to my soup recipe for today -- it actually calls for yellow split peas, but beans nonetheless.  I tried out Dr. Fuhrman's Cheezy Kale soup recipe.  (You can read about my love for kale here.) It has no cheese in it; it just tastes like it does.  I can't quite figure out what it is that fools your mind into thinking it contains cheese, but at this point, I don't care.  I just like it!  The soup has split peas in it so it's easy to get a little bit of your daily bean quota in a big bowl.

Yellow split peas are... well, yellow!

mushrooms -- one of the G-BOMBS! (eat daily)

I don't have a juicer, so I buy my carrot juice in a bottle.

Costco is getting good at carrying organic products.

Kale -- oh, yeah, Baby!

The finished soup.  Doesn't look so appetizing, but I say it is yummy!

And me in my kale shirt, just in case you missed it!

I won't tell you how much I screwed up and didn't follow the cooking instructions, but the soup came out delicious just the same. (I think.)  Let's just say should you happen to throw everything in the pressure cooker at once, it still works.  You will need to adjust the cooking time, though, to 12 minutes.  Then blend in the blender.  I think some of the nutritional elements may have been lost from cooking the kale that long, but it all worked. 

RECIPE:

"Cheesy" Kale Soup

 

Serves: 4

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup yellow split peas

1 onion, chopped

1 cup mushrooms,sliced

2 cups carrot juice (2 pounds of carrots, juiced)

15 ounces tomato sauce, no-salt added or low-sodium

1 1/2 pounds kale, tough stems and center ribs removed and leaves coarsely chopped

1/2 cup raw cashews

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

Instructions: In a pressure cooker, cover yellow split peas with about 2 1/2 cups of water and cook on high pressure for 6-8 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients except cashews and nutritional yeast and cook on high pressure for 1 minute. Release pressure and blend soup with cashews in a high-speed blender.
Sprinkle with nutritional yeast before serving.

To make without a pressure cooker:
Precook the split peas until soft.
Combine cooked split peas with all remaining ingredients except cashews. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until kale is tender (about 15 minutes). Add water as needed to achieve desired consistency. Blend with cashews in a high-speed blender. Sprinkle with nutritional yeast before serving.

I must give credit where credit is due.  Many of my recipes I have gotten from the Dr. Fuhrman site.  If you haven't checked out his diet-style, you might want to do that by clicking here.  I have been following his plan for about 18 months now, doing better in the last few months.  It does take some adjustment, some changes in thinking, but if you want to feel amazing, get better sleep, have more energy AND lose weight... all naturally, safely and quickly, this is the lifestyle to adopt.  It's not a diet... it's a way of life.  If you are interested and have questions, please let me know.  I don't get a kickback from Dr. Fuhrman; I just truly believe in this way of life.  I have seen incredible changes in my own life and the lives of many others I have met and helped to make the change.  Why not take the plunge today?

I will check back in on Friday and share one of my most favorite desserts EVER!