We have an arctic situation weather wise so this week as part of January detox month my sister and I have come up with a warming cleansing soup. I do ‘lightly’ use the word detox as I’m not suggesting to go over crazy with your diet (another word I actually hate) but to just use January as a month to re-charge your batteries and eat plenty of nourishing foods.

I’ve grown to love soups as they are so soothing on the digestive system. For this recipe you can either use home made vegetable broth or bouillon powder. When preparing a cleansing soup we do not use meat broth as the animal protein is just harder to digest.

Ingredients:

2-3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 Small white onion finely chopped

2 garlic cloves finely chopped

1/4 Piece of ginger finely chopped

100g Kale chopped

100g Tenderstem broccoli

2 Celery stalks chopped

A Handful of spinach

1 Handful of chopped parsley

1/2 Can of butter beans

2 teaspoons of cumin

600ml Vegetable broth or 1.5 teaspoon of bouillon powder and 600ml of water

Himalayan salt and pepper

Lemon juice

Pumpkin seeds to sprinkle on top

{Depending on how thick you like your soup how much water or broth you use is up to you}.

Start by placing the olive oil, onion, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper, cumin and bouillon powder if you are not using the vegetable broth in a pan over medium heat. Sauté for 1 minute adding a small amount of water. Add the kale, broccoli, celery and spinach. Sauté for 7 minutes then transfer to a pot and add your vegetable broth or water and cook for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Once cooked set to the side to cool down a little, then blend with a hand blender until lovely and smooth. Taste to see if you need to add more seasoning. Serve and sprinkle pumpkin seeds and fresh parsley on top. Enjoy!

Dania Trapani  is a fully qualified nutritional therapist and naturopath. Make sure to follow her blog for her latest recipes and healthy tips.