Food & Drink

Recipe of the Week: Leafy Greens and Coconut Milk Soup

Recover from the holidays with this clean, invigorating soup

By Amy Pennington January 4, 2017

leafy2

Recipe of the Week is contributed by Seattle-based award-winning cookbook author, urban farmer and Seattle magazine contributor Amy Pennington.

The new year is a great time to recover from holiday indulgences. Personally, I’m so over food and drinks just now. Instead, I’m craving clean eating foods that I know will work through my system quickly and provide me with energy. (I’ve been counterbalancing bourbon with green juice for a week!) Craving fuel, January 1 is when I typically make a shopping list and stock up on frozen cut fruit for smoothies, bunches of leafy, winter greens and make sure I have some lean proteins available for adding to meals.

Here, the good fats found in coconut milk satiate and homemade beef stock provides a calcium and phosphorous dense broth full of minerals providing a base for the Leafy Greens & Coconut Milk Soup. I fill a large, shallow bowl with torn spinach leaves, a handful of mixed herbs (whole cilantro, basil and mint are delicious and invigorating) and some finely chopped green onions. Add thinly sliced jalapeño for spice; they’re especially great when you’re fighting a cold as the capsaicin from the seeds (the compound that creates the spiciness) thins mucus and helps to open up your nasal passages.

Pour hot broth directly over the greens: the heat cooks the greens, allowing the soup to come together in minutes. Keep the pantry filled with at least one can of coconut milk (look for a pure brand that avoids adding carageenan, a seaweed derivative that is thought to be an allergen) and keep a container of stock frozen in the freezer, for easy meal making.

Leafy Greens & Coconut Milk Soup

2 parts bone broth
1 part coconut milk

Place broth and coconut milk into a small saucepan and heat to boiling. Meanwhile, fill a large, shallow bowl with greens, as above. When broth is at a low boil, pour over the veg and serve immediately.

For bone broth, check out this recipe from Broth Bar, from the article Experience the Benefits of Bone Broth published in the magazine’s October 2016 issue.

Find more on Amy Pennington, Seattle author, gardener and cook, more recipe ideas and inspiration as well and gardening tips and tricks, visit Amy’s website at amy-pennington.com, Urban Garden Share, and find garden updates and food for thought at Amy’s twitter at twitter.com/gogogreengarden

Follow Us

Water World Wonder

Water World Wonder

Unique artistic collaboration invites water into stunning Lake Washington home

Swivel Interiors founder Kathleen Glossa lured five innovative local artists to a newly purchased vacation property perched on the northern edge of Lake Washington. Photo by Andrew Giammarco

Minecraft Motivation

Minecraft Motivation

Couple uses video game for renovation inspiration

They had a hard time visualizing what their new home might look like, so they turned to Minecraft, a hugely popular video game Microsoft markets as a tool for creative types to “battle mobs, construct shelter, and explore the landscape.” They had been playing the game for years, and didn’t need to consult the box

Trees, Whales, Wine

Trees, Whales, Wine

Browne Family Vineyards takes on climate change

Since late last year, Walla Walla’s Browne Family Vineyards has planted more than 120,000 trees in a reforestation effort to mitigate climate change on vineyards and grapes.

A Light-Filled  Oasis

A Light-Filled Oasis

Mercer Island residence embraces natural beauty by drawing it inside

When Kent and Lisa Sacia decided to put a bow on their latest remodeling triumph, they turned to a trusted collaborator, Sander Groves Landscaping President Dan Groves. He was more than happy to take on the project, a reimagining of a 1972 Northwest contemporary by a noted Mercer Island architect. “I am in a position to…