Who says that soups can't be sexy?

I was never a big soup person.  Soups were meant for sick days, light lunches, and old people who can’t chew.   But after living in city where the ladies bust out their fur coats as early as late October and temperatures of below 0 Celsius are nothing special to report about.   I’ve somehow grown to enjoy a steamy cup of soup on a snowy day.

When I did my 30 day alkaline cleanse, it was in July, right after my Unleash the Power Within event with Tony Robbins in Rome. It was the perfect season to start the cleanse, especially one that promotes raw eating.   I filled my stomach with endless Gazpacho soups and rocket salads and felt completely content.  

Now that it’s winter, I just can’t get myself to make a raw soup…my tummy needs something warm and hearty.  A lot of people get the wrong idea that alkaline is a raw diet.  As long as you are eating the correct alkaline foods, your body will maintain that correct PH balance.  Of course, the more raw foods you eat the better but, hey, I ain’t perfect and I don’t try to be.

A lot of lentil recipes will take much longer but my version is super duper quick and easy cus I got my beloved pressure cooker.  When I was shopping for my pressure cooker, I read a bunch of horror stories of pressure cooker exploding, etc.  PLEASE do yourself a favor and get yourself a pressure cooker.  With the latest technology and your common sense, pressure cookers really should be the last thing you are scared of.   It’s saves you so much time and the tenderness of the food makes your guests believe that you've labored over the pot for hours!

Winter Lentil Soup with Butternut Squash

Cooking time: 25 minutes

• 2 tbs of olive oil  
• 400 g of green lentils (any type would do, I just prefer the green ones cus I like the color)
• 1 butternut squash, peel and cut into bite sized squares
• 1 clove of garlic 
• 1 large onion , chopped into small cubes
• 2 cups of veggie broth
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop up onion, garlic, and butternut squash
2. Heat up olive oil in the pressure cooker
3. Sautee onion and garlic for a few seconds (most recipes for pressure cooker says to sautee the onions til brown and soft but by the time the lentils are cooked, the onions would have melted away into the broth so it really doesn’t make a difference)
4. Add green lentils and butternut squash.  (lentils need no pre-soaking)
5. Add 2 cups of veggie broth and cover with enough water to cover at least twice the height of the lentils.
6. Seal the cooker and cook at high pressure for 10 minutes. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, cook in a pot until lentils are soft, about an hour.  (10 mins vs 1 hour, do the math…..buy the pressure cooker)
7. Remove from heat and let cool naturally
8. Once the pressure has been completely released, open the cooker and season with salt and pepper as you please.  Add more water/broth if you would like the soup to be more soupy.

This hearty delicious soup is so filling it can be a one plate meal for dinner or lunch.  

400g of lentils will make you enough soup to feed an army (of 6 ppl) so if you got left overs, just save them in the freezer for another cold day.

This recipe is so versatile.  You can add carrots and potatoes instead of butternut squash, or spice it up with some herbs......yeah, go ahead, you got my permission to get creative and make a sexy soup!