{"id":59,"date":"2011-08-19T04:54:24","date_gmt":"2011-08-19T04:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.natalie-naturopath.com\/melbournehealth\/?p=59"},"modified":"2011-08-19T06:18:49","modified_gmt":"2011-08-19T06:18:49","slug":"leeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.natalie-naturopath.com\/melbournehealth\/2011\/08\/19\/leeks\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeks – Spring Green Soup"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The cold days in old Melbourne town are still with us, but a hint of spring is certainly in the air.\u00a0 The intoxicating scent of jasmine flowers, the days slowly but surely staying lighter for longer\u2026.. Spring is a great time to embrace a good cleanse~ from the clothes cupboard to our bodies!\u00a0 The green vegies and lovely leeks<\/strong> that are coming into season are a great place to start the internal cleanse – check out this\u00a0 \u201cSpring Green Soup\u201d Recipe adapted from Anna Thomas\u2019 delicious recipe book Love Soup<\/em>.<\/p>\n

INGREDIENTS<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

225g Leeks (about 2-3)<\/p>\n

\n

a few cloves of garlic<\/p>\n

200g Potatoes<\/p>\n

Lima beans \u2013 1 tin strained or about 250g (raw) already soaked and cooked<\/p>\n

Head of Broccoli<\/p>\n

Small Zucchini<\/p>\n

150g baby spinach leaves<\/p>\n

Handful of fresh mint leaves<\/p>\n

4 Cups of vegetable stock *<\/p>\n

30-50 mls fresh lemon juice<\/p>\n

Pepper (Cayenne is good)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Wash the leeks thoroughly, slice them thinly.\u00a0 Crush or chop garlic.\u00a0 Fry in a touch of olive oil over a medium heat until soft and tender. (about 8-10 minutes)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, scrub and dice the potatoes and simmer them in a large pot with about 2 cups of water, 2 cups of stock.\u00a0 Simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes.\u00a0 While this is going on, wash and shop the green vegies.\u00a0 Add the broccoli, zucchini and cooked leeks to the pot and simmer for about 10 more minutes.\u00a0 Add the lima beans, spinach and the rest of the stock, simmer for about another 5 minutes. Add the chopped mint in the last few minutes.\u00a0 Stir in lemon juice after taken off heat, add pepper to taste.<\/p>\n

This soup is good blended, or just as is.\u00a0 Garnish with a drizzle of fruity green olive oil.\u00a0 Add some crumbled goats cheese or grated parmesan if desired.<\/p>\n

Mix it up ~ Any herbs can be added to this soup \u2013 fresh dill, fennel greens, chives.\u00a0 Add some fresh peas, sorrel\u2026<\/p>\n

One of the great things about soup is that you can make adjustments according to what\u2019s in the refrigerator, and experiment with different ingredients with confidence that it can\u2019t really go wrong!<\/p>\n

*A note on stock \u2013 good quality premade stocks can be found in health food shops and supermarkets, just read the ingredients so make sure they are not full of \u2018numbers\u2019 and loaded with salt.\u00a0 A nice habit to get into is make your own.\u00a0 It is super easy.\u00a0 I tend to make one on the day I do a big market shop.\u00a0 You can throw in the vegies that have sat in the crisper for a bit too long, add the leaves of the celery (it fits in the fridge better then!), the green parts of the leek, a large onion, a handful of parsley (or whatever herbs are floating around) a few pepper corns, bay leaves, some carrot, the \u2018discarded\u2019 bits of whatever you are using for dinner for example the greens and \u2018silk\u2019 of the corn husk, root vegie peelings, broccoli stalks, kale stems\u2026what ever is around.\u00a0 Bring to boil then simmer, covered for at least one hour, in a big stock pot with plenty of water to cover the vegetables. Strain, and put in containers for the fridge or freezer to use as desired.\u00a0 For a more concentrated stock, return the liquid to simmer with the lid off until it has reduced to desired concentration.<\/p>\n

Leeks<\/strong> are something of an unsung hero in the vegetable world. They belong to the Allium family, and like their kin, onion and garlic, have a unique combination of flavonoids and sulfur-containing nutrients.\u00a0 Flavonoids found in leeks have been shown to protect blood vessels from damage and oxidative stress.\u00a0 They also contain high amounts of folate , a B group vitamin important for cardiovascular protection, healthy red blood cell production, and health pregnancy outcomes to name a few health benefits.\u00a0 Check out this great website for more info on the humble leek, as well as some other interesting info\u2026.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.organicfood.com.au\/content_common\/pg-leeks-information.seo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The cold days in old Melbourne town are still with us, but a hint of spring is certainly in the air.\u00a0 The intoxicating scent of jasmine flowers, the days slowly but surely staying lighter for longer\u2026.. Spring is a great time to embrace a good cleanse~ from the clothes cupboard to our bodies!\u00a0 The green …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":64,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-natural-food-for-health-and-wellbeing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.natalie-naturopath.com\/melbournehealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.natalie-naturopath.com\/melbournehealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.natalie-naturopath.com\/melbournehealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.natalie-naturopath.com\/melbournehealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.natalie-naturopath.com\/melbournehealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.natalie-naturopath.com\/melbournehealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61,"href":"https:\/\/www.natalie-naturopath.com\/melbournehealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions\/61"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.natalie-naturopath.com\/melbournehealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.natalie-naturopath.com\/melbournehealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.natalie-naturopath.com\/melbournehealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.natalie-naturopath.com\/melbournehealth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}