A Delicious, Healing Winter Soup for the Flu Season

We've all heard the old adage, "When you're sick, eat chicken soup, drink lots of water, and rest". Well as a life-long vegetarian, I've never been able to take advantage of that advice, but over the years, studying nutrition, and its effect on the body, I have learned to craft a delicious meat-free, grain-free soup, which has an array of essential ingredients to sustain and support the immune and respiratory systems during those dangerous months when flu and cold viruses are looking for a host. I recently taught my older son how to make this soup, and took notes as we went. Whenever he's feeling the bug to make a soup, I'll be able to send him here for instructions!

This is an excellent soup to cook weekly, and holds up well for leftovers the next day. Some of the ingredients, such as the squash, have a variety of choices; butternut, delicata, acorn, or yellow squash. Each one will add a slightly different flavor. Carrots are optional, and tomotoes are best used during the latte rmonths of Fall, when they're still coming off of the vines. If you can freeze some from your or your neighbor's garden, or a surplus from a farm stand, those are great stand-ins, but I don't recommend using canned tomatoes, or canned squash, as the flavor and nutrition isn't optimal.

The addition of fresh tumeric adds a ton of flavor and healing benefits. Be careful, when cooking this, not to overboil it. Saute the first set of ingredients on low, and only turn it up once you've added the water. Once it's simmering, turn it down to low-medium (3-4 on a gas stove) until the ingredients are soft. It's a remarkably fast-cooking soup, since tiny organge lentils cook up very quickly. Other lentils do not cook as quickly, so if substituting, plan to tack on more time for green or larger red lentils.

Ingredients:

Olive oil for saute'

1/2 tsp of coriander seeds (can sub powder)

4-5 fresh cloves of garlic

1/3 of a large yellow or white onion

2 TBLSP sliced ginger

1TBLSP sliced tumeric

1/2 jalapeno or mild pepper finely chopped, or a tsp of pepper of choice

cracked pepper to taste

Vegetables:

One large, or 1/4 cup chopped garden-fresh tomoto

one veggie boullion cube or vegetarian stock