We at Embodied Empowerment are strong believers in the power of nourishment through food. Food is a wonderful way to connect to nature, ourselves and each other. In fact whenever our team meets up or we hold our ‘Practitioner meet-ups’ we always share food together.
“I’ve always been a strong believer in ‘Soup Therapy’,'' explains Sophie co-founder of Embodied Empowerment. “Whenever I feel stressed, overwhelmed, emotional or just a bit meh, I make soup! Taking the time to choose the right recipe to suit my mood, carefully selecting the stars of the show - my chosen vegetables! Followed by the wonderfully grounding and simple act of chopping and stirring when cooking. Finally finishing with being able to nourish me from the inside, by eating up a delicious soup I took the time to create all for me… and any lucky pals I chose to share it with!”
Enjoy our monthly Blog Post - Soup of The Month where we share a new seasonal, nourishing soup recipe every month.
Here’s this month's recipe from our resident Chef Nicoletta Tavella - La Cucina del Sole.
This soup will awaken your second chakra, the Sacral one, associated with creativity, sensuality and emotions and with the colour orange. It’ll give you a boost of energy when you’re feeling down, and/or need to spice up your love life.
Hot hot hot, baby! :)
We’re using three wonderful orange ingredients: carrots, red lentils - why are they called red when they’re actually orange? :) - and butternut squash. Plus a generous amount of ginger and a pinch of hot paprika, both warming and comforting.
Butternut squash is high in Vitamins A, E, C, B-complex, and contains plenty of beta carotene, calcium, zinc, iron, and potassium which are important for keeping the immune system strong.
Carrots add a touch of sweetness to this dish and bring good glucose to the liver. The fibre they contain can help keep blood sugar levels under control plus they're full of vitamin A and help you strengthen your bones.
Red lentils are a great source of high-quality protein. They have a calming effect on the mind and are strengthening and detoxifying.
Ginger is one of nature’s biggest gifts: full of great properties, it stimulates digestion, reduces inflammation, is antibacterial and lowers blood pressure.
Hot paprika helps digestion and improves circulation, is antibacterial and helps to fight common infections.
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Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
1 small onion
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil of choice (olive, sunflower, coconut…)
1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger
3 teaspoons of buckwheat flour (optional)
200 gr. carrots
400 gr. butternut squash
120 gr. red lentils, uncooked
3 bay leaves
3 twigs of fresh thyme or a pinch of dried thyme
2 cloves of garlic
2,5 l. water
2 vegetarian stock cubes without MSG or 2 teaspoons of sea salt
1 lime
hot paprika powder
Peel and chop the onion, grate the peeled ginger and then gently fry both of them in 3 spoons of oil until soft and fragrant, stirring regularly to make sure they don’t burn (you can put a lid on the pan for keeping them moist).
Add the buckwheat flour and gently stir until it’s reduced to a paste. It will help to thicken the soup a little more (you can skip this procedure/ingredient if you want).
Peel and chop the carrots and the squash and add them to the onion and ginger mix.
Rinse the lentils with cold water and then sieve.
Add 2,5 litres of hot water, bay leaves, thyme, the lentils and the peeled cloves of garlic to the vegetables.
Leave the soup to gently boil for about 40-45 minutes until everything has become thoroughly cooked.
Add the stock cubes or the sea salt and remove the thyme sprigs and the bay leaves.
Puree the soup until smooth and serve with a squeeze of lime and a pinch of hot paprika powder. If you want, you can add some boiled rice to it.
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