Detox Soup

It is that time of year! You know the one where you recover from the indulgences of the holidays… I’ve actually already been working on that a bit, but won’t actually go full speed into healthy until Monday. I mean, there are still cookies in the house, and I have a hard time not eating them. But, as of Sunday night, all sweets are going to be thrown away (most are getting stale anyway) or frozen. For those of you not bothered by excess, you may just have to bear with me through a few healthy posts. But, I promise they will be tasty. After all, you cannot expect a food lover like me to eat anything less. I will just have to be more creative, which is never a bad thing. Speaking of tasty and healthy, I have a Detox Soup for you today!

You see, my biggest problem with detoxing is that most of the food is raw and cold – you know, smoothies, salads, etc. Not that I don’t love smoothies and salads because I really do, and there is a good chance you will find a few of those over the next week or so, but it’s January, which means it’s cold. I do not like cold. And, after a few days of smoothies and salads, I really start to want something warm. And, yes, I do know all the virtues of raw foods, etc., but I just have to have some warm. So, I took some of those ingredients that I am either supposed to be juicing or making into salads, and turned them into soup – so much more satisfying on a  cold winter’s day!

The recipe itself, could be easily changed to fit your favorite vegetables. It’s base is diced tomatoes and vegetable broth, but you could add in anything else you like. I went with what looked good at the grocery store. And, since the okra looked good, which is unusual this time of year, I decided to add it to give it a bit of a gumbo like flavor. I also added in some beans because my son is back to being a vegetarian, and he needs the protein. I used canned, because I really didn’t plan to make this until the last minute, but taking the time to cook your own dried beans would be better. But, really any of your favorite vegetables would work. I have made this basic recipe with all sorts of different things. Use your own tastes and what is available as a guide.