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Packing the goodness In

Written by Staff Reporter

Thursday, 13 January 2011

Before Christmas I got a big bag of vegetables from my vegetable supplier. I knew I was going to be away for most of Christmas so I started thinking about how I could use up large amounts of vegetables, which were likely to go off, in a short amount of time.

I often have clients who come into my nutrition clinic who say they buy vegetables or fruit and often end up throwing them away. How can this be avoided?

Juicing and liquidising vegetables and fruits are a great way of using them up. You get large amount of nutrients without huge volume. Making soups that are packed full of vegetables and then blitzing them means that you are getting several portions of vegetables in a bowl. This is particularly great with kids who might find it difficult to have half a plate of vegetables but can down a tasty soup in no time.

I also find people either buy a juicer or use a liquidiser to make juices and smoothies. Again, you might be getting the nutrients of 4-5 carrots in one small glass. Be careful though; remember that most of the fibre has been removed!

Asian Broccoli Soup

1 large broccoli floret or two medium florets
1 tin of butterbeans – washed and drained
2 yellow onions - chopped
2 cloves of garlic - crushed
1 inch of root ginger - - grated
1 small green chilli – deseeded and chopped finely
2 tablespoons of Tamari (or other soya sauce)
A dash of lemon juice
1 litre of vegetable stock or boiling water
Freshly cracked pepper

Chop the flowers off the broccoli and cut in half. With the remaining stalks, chop into half inch cubes. Separate flowers and stalks into 2 bundles.
Sauté the chopped onions in a little water for 5-10 minutes until translucent. Next add the chilli, garlic and ginger and stir well and cook for a few minutes.

Add the stock or water and bring to the boil. Next add the stalks and cook for 5 minutes until they are nice and soft. Next add the broccoli flowers and butterbeans, along with the, lemon juice, soya sauce and the cracked pepper. Cook for a few minutes until the flowers get a little soft. Remove from heat and blitz with a handheld blender or a liquidizer. Serve with a dollop of fresh yogurt on top.

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