Katie's Coconut Cream Vegetable Soup

Since I've been more aware lately of my food intake (more on that in a future blog), I've been preparing food more mindfully than ever before. For any of you who know me personally, this may sound strange. I've always been pretty aware of what goes in my body, but I've recently been counting calories, and this has helped me create a really tasty, low-calorie soup. Here's the recipe. Let me know what you think.

All ingredients should be ORGANIC.

Ingredients:
4-6 Tbsp Nutiva coconut oil (or other unheated, white coconut oil)
2 medium onions (white or yellow), chopped
2 carrots, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 cups Crimini & Shitake mushrooms, sliced
(optional: 1-2 small serrano chili peppers, chopped)
1 Tbsp raw heavy cream or 2 Tbsp organic coconut milk

Heat good, filtered water in another pot while making the following vegetable saute. Heat 3 cups of water per person.

Saute in a big, glass (or stainless) soup pot the following: Coconut oil (start w 3 Tbsp, add more coconut oil when you add more ingredients), onions, carrots, celery, ginger and garlic. Saute for 8-10  minutes, add mushrooms. Saute until everything is softened and cooked together. (If you choose to add serrano peppers, push the vegetables to the side of the pan, add 1-2 Tbsp coconut oil with the chopped or minced peppers to infuse the oil with pepper for 3-5 minutes before mixing.)

Once everything is well-cooked together, remove from heat. This will yield 6-8 servings of soup (2-3 cup servings). If you're making for a group, use the whole recipe, if for one, take 2-3 cups of vegetable mixture. Add 1-2 cups heated water per serving. Allow the soup to cool so that you can put your finger in and not pull it out because it's too hot. In other words, allow it to cool to about 95-100 degrees. Once cooled, add 1 Tbsp cream per serving. Option: Use 1-2 Tbsp coconut milk in lieu of cream. Salt lightly to taste. Optional: Add curry powder or other seasonings.

Here's the nutrition information: (The total fat is good fat since it's raw cream. Make sure the soup is cooled before adding cream!)

Calories: 231
Carbs: 11
Fat: 18
Protein: 3

Please feel free to improvise on this recipe, but please let me know how it goes and how you've made it great for you.

Enjoy!