Tasty. Easy. Healthy.

By Chef Domenica Catelli

I mentioned that I’m trying to do a light recalibration after the Turkey Day extravaganza that went on about four days too long. My trainer, Josh, mentioned to my friend and I that we should try having smoothies for dinner 2-3 nights out of the week for a few weeks to help with our pre-New Year’s diet plan. I don’t know about you, but a freezing-cold, liquid dinner on a rainy night never sounds like an exciting option. I get the idea behind the smoothie—low calorie, high protein, easy to digest. With that in mind, I set out to make something that would fill all the nutrition content but also leave me satiated. I knew that I could make a quick blender soup that would blow a smoothie dinner away.

Here is my soup solution. If you are in a pinch for time, get the already chopped onions at the grocery store or from a salad bar. Also, already-peeled garlic is available at the grocery store as well for a slightly higher price.

1-2-3 Mushroom and Spinach Soup

2-3 servings

Ingredients:

¼ cup chopped onion

3 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

½ cup whole peeled garlic

2 cups mushrooms (I used organic mix of oyster and shitake)

1 two-inch chunk of fresh ginger, peeled

1 cup chicken broth (or veggie broth or you can just do water)

3 cups organic baby spinach

3 cups water

¼ of a small avocado

1.5 tablespoons organic red miso

Pinch of salt

¼ cup fresh basil or cilantro leaves

Zest and juice of one lemon

*optional garnish: siracha chili sauce, hot peppers, sprouted beans or sprouts

Directions

Put the onion, garlic and olive oil in a large skillet and cook over medium heat until the onions are soft. The garlic will still be on the raw side. Add the mushrooms and let cook for a minute. In the meantime, put the ginger and broth in a blender. Turn on high and puree the ginger. Pour this mix into pan. Add the spinach. Let the spinach wilt a bit then put all ingredients back into the blender, along with the avocado, miso, herbs, and lemon.

Puree soup and return to pan to gently heat.

Finish with chili sauce, a squeeze of lemon and sprouted beans.

This soup will be spicy and garlicky. But I will say, the cold I felt like I was catching was scared away by the large amounts of almost raw garlic. The vampires and my family may have been scared as well.

I went to bed feeling satiated and warm, and so happy a smoothie was not my dinner.

Until next time, stay fresh and delicious!