Life Elixir Soup

After Super Bowl Sunday--pounding Rice Krispie Treats, sausages, weenies, and several margaritas--I came home with a stomachache. It was one of those piercing stomachaches that slithers around and feels like it's sticking needles inside your torso. Even though it felt like Voldermort was in my belly, I've dedicated my Sundays to making soup, so soup I made. Influenced by my tummy pain, each ingredient I chose had to contribute to my health. I invented the Life Elixir Soup. After I ate two small bowls, the pain went away and I felt more rejuvenated and lively than I've felt in a while.

Behold, Life Elixir Soup!

This soup was also inspired by the Chinese New Year, the year of the rabbit, better known as, Jill Abell's year! Gung Hay Fat Choy!!! I decided to make the soup more brothy than I normally would, and I added in rice wine and lots of leafy green things. I would suggest incorporating soy sauce for all you gluten eaters out there.








I looked up the nutritional qualities of each ingredient, and I can safely say that this soup is the cancer fighting soup, along with decreasing heart disease and randomly, baby brain defects in developing fetuses. I will delve into some of the health aspects of these vegetables after.....

Ingredients and recipe!

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 Large onion
1/2 Cabbage head
1 bunch of Swiss Chard
1 cup Pea Pods
1/2 cup frozen Okra
2 small Zucchinis
5 Chicken Tenderloins
32 oz Chicken Broth
1/4 bag of Spinach
Pinch of Cayenne
2 Tbsp Salt
1 Tbsp Pepper
3 Tbsp Sugar (I use Splenda)
3 Tbsp Rice Wine
2 Tbsp Lime Juice
1/2 Tbsp Basil

Recipe:

1. Add oil to pot at medium heat. Chop onion into large chunks and let simmer in pot for 5 minutes. Coarsely chop cabbage and swiss chard, mix in with ingredients. Let simmer for 5 minutes.

2. Chop pea pods in half, quarter zucchini and combine with ingredients. Chop chicken into bite size pieces, add to pot, let simmer for 5-7 minutes.

3. Pour in chicken broth, turn up heat until low boil. Let boil for 30 minutes.

4. Add in spinach. Let boil for 2-5 more minutes.

5. Seasoning time! Add in Cayenne, salt, pepper, sugar, rice wine, lime juice and Basil to your personal tastes. Let boil for 20 more minutes then serve!

This picture sucks so much. Maybe I'll try to take a picture later today.









The flavors of lime and the rice wine take charge of the flavor in this soup, but don't overpower it. If you're feeling sick in any way I recommend the Life Elixir Soup. It's like youth in a bowl.

Now I'm going to discuss some of the health qualities of the ingredients--this is probably going to get boring.

Swiss chard is a wonder food, especially in it's anti-cancer nutrient and vitamin combination.
*Vitamins: C, E, K, carotenes, chlorophyll and fiber.
*Minerals: Potassium, magnesium, iron and manganese.
*Nutrients: Vitamin B6, protein, calcium, thiamine, selenium, zinc, niacin and folic acid.

For the ladies, Spinach contains a butt load of iron. It also helps in preventing macular degeneration and cataracts, along with, CANCER FIGHTING ANTIOXIDANTS. Vegetables rule at cancer domination.

The cabbage family has loads of phytochemicals that fight breast, lung, colon and prostate CANCER. It also helps with peptic ulcers and eliminating harmful chemicals and hormones from the body.

The least healthy, but low in calories ingredient I used was okra. It happens to contain all the right ingredients to prevent baby brain defects--expecting mommies, eat up!

The biggest vegetable shock I had, and vegetables can be quite shocking so make sure you're sitting down, were onions. They are chocked full of vitamins, nutrients and minerals. When you chop into an onion (or garlic) allinase is released. Allinase are actually organic sulfur compounds that decrease blood lipid levels, clot formation, along with decreasing blood pressure and balancing blood sugar--along with making you cry like a bitch.

Hope you enjoyed your lesson on healthy vegetables! G'day!

~Jill