Guest Post Series – Week 2

Green Blossoms Guest Chef – Christy Morgan

This week, guest chef Christy Morgan, also known as @theblissfulchef, shares about her blissful vegetarian life and her nourishing beet soup.

Going Vegetarian (and eventually vegan) completely change my life in profound ways. It’s been 7 years and I’ve never looked back. There is a shift happening this year that is pushing us to change our diets to a more plant-based one. With the highest instances of obesity, heart disease, and cancer happening in years, we must do it for ourselves and for the planet. People are ready to take an honest look at their dinner plates and see the bigger picture staring back at them. Here’s a delicious recipe that will help you on your transition to a plant-based diet. It’s beautiful, full of vitamins, fiber, and minerals, and is perfect for the transition into spring!

If you thought you didn’t like the earthy, rich flavor of beets you must try this soup. Similar to Russian borscht, this creamy soup uses red lentils for extra protein with no saturated fat. This soup also uses umeboshi vinegar, which comes from the brine of pickling umeboshi plums. These may be new to you but this Japanese pickled plum has been used medicinally in Asia for centuries. Umeboshi plums are alkalizing, which help eliminate toxins from the body, stimulate digestion, neutralize fatigue, and help balance an overly acidic condition. The vinegar has a tart and salty flavor that makes it a perfect substitution for sea salt in dressings, soups, and sauces.

Love Your Heart Beet Soup

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium carrot, chopped
2 red beets, peeled and chopped
6 cups filtered water
1 cup red lentils, washed and drained
3 bay leaves
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons umeboshi vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
Dash of black pepper
Sea salt to taste if needed
Tofutti sour cream and chopped dill for garnish

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium flame. Add carrots and beets with a pinch of sea salt and sauté over a medium flame for 3 minutes. Add water, lentils, bay leaves, and another pinch of salt. Bring to boil, and then lower heat and simmer, partially covered for 25-30 minutes.

2. Remove bay leaves. Puree in small batches in a blender and return to pot. Or use an emersion blender. Stir in vinegar, lemon and pepper. Taste and add sea salt if needed.

3. Serve warm or cold garnished with a dollop of soy sour cream and   chopped dill.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes
Serving Size: 5-7 servings

Download this recipe!

About the chef: Christy Morgan, aka “The Blissful Chef”, is a green chick and vegan macrobiotic chef to eco-conscious celebrities in Los Angeles. She’ll help you make “blissed” cuisine that will nourish your mind, body, and spirit and get you on the path to feeling blissful everyday. Her blog, cooking videos, and cooking classes will inspire you to create balance and harmony in your life through food that will not only make you feel great, but will also preserve the planet.

You can find Christy at http://theblissfulchef.com or follow her on Twitter @TheBlissfulChef and on Facebook.

Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 4:00 amand is filed under GB Guest Supertips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.