Detox Green Soup

Swiped from the Gluten-free Goddess:

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons diced onion
1 inch of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
4 cups fresh broccoli, cut up
1/2 pound of fresh spinach leaves (Imma try kale)
3 parsnips, peeled, cored, chopped (mmmmm parsnips)
2 ribs of celery, trimmed, chopped
A handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped
Fresh water, as needed
Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste
Lemon or lime juice


Using a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat and stir in the garlic, onion, and ginger to season the oil. Add the broccoli, spinach, parsnips, celery and parsley, and stir a bit until the spinach wilts and collapses. Add just enough water to cover the vegetables. Remember the spinach will cook down quite a bit, so don't add too much water at first. You can always thin the soup later, if you need to.

Bring to a high simmer, cover the pot, and reduce the heat to a medium simmer. Cook for fifteen minutes or so until the veggies are softened.

Use an immersion blender to puree the soup.

Taste test. Does it need brightening? Add a squeeze of citrus.

Options:

To make this a creamy soup add a dash of So Delicious Coconut Milk.

Serve with a spoonful of hot cooked rice in the center of the bowl.

Healthy Pumpkin Spiced Cookies

Saw these on Kirs Carr's website and thought they looked like something a monkey might enjoy:


-2 cups organic raw whole rolled oats*
-8 ounces (about 1 cup) organic mashed pumpkin (from a can is OK)
-1 small ripe banana, chopped
-1/3 cup sliced almonds
-3 tablespoon ground flax seeds
-3 tablespoon grade B maple syrup
-1 ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice**
-¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly spray a baking sheet with a natural olive oil or canola oil cooking spray. Combine pumpkin, banana, maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix on high with a hand mixer until mostly smooth, about two minutes. Fold in the oats, almonds and flax using a large wooded spoon until the mixture is uniform. Form 6 large cookies and bake for 14-16 minutes until set. They will stay soft but hold together well. Let cool 10 minutes before eating. Store in an airtight glass container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

This recipe also works well if you make 12 small cookies of equal size and bake for 11-13 minutes.