Yes, you read that recipe title correctly. This is not salad AND soup. This is salad TURNED INTO soup. Hear me out on this one.
My husband came home early from a business trip with a nasty flu bug. I tried to get him to eat salad for lunch, but he wasn’t having any part of it. He wanted something hot. But I still wanted him to get the nutritional benefit of a salad. So I tried putting the salad into my trusty Nutribullet to see what happened and…..it turned out great!
I usually have a huge bowl of salad in the fridge at any given time to grab and throw something together for lunch. So using that as the base, I added in spinach and arugula and some things to spice it up, like garlic, onion powder and black pepper.
To give the soup some body and a creamy texture, I pureed raw cashew seeds. And to take that a step further, I garnished it with hemp seeds, which also have a nice soft, creamy mouth-feel.
The next time you have some leftover salad, or salad that’s on the verge of going bad, give this recipe a try. It’s super simple to make and is ready in about 5 minutes!
Ingredients (serves 1)
2 cups pre-made or Basic Salad mix
1 cup baby spinach (well packed)
½ cup baby arugula (well packed)
½ cup low sodium tomato juice
½ cup water
1 garlic clove
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 green onion (sliced)
1 teaspoon hemp seed
2 tablespoons raw cashews
freshly ground black pepper
pinch of salt
Directions
1. Place the salad, spinach, arugula, tomato juice, water, garlic, onion powder and black pepper (to taste) in a high-speed blender and blend for 1 – 2 minutes until completely smooth. If your blender has a lower capacity, place in half of the ingredients and blend to reduce the quantity, then add in the remainder and thoroughly blend.
2. Pour all but ½ cup of the mixture into a small (1 quart) sauce pan. Place the cashews in the blender with the remaining mixture and blend for 1 – 2 minutes until the cashews have been pureed. Pour this mixture into the sauce pan as well.
3. Turn the heat on medium-low and gently stir for 1 – 2 minutes until soup is warmed through – not boiling hot. As soon as you seen small wisps of steam coming off the soup’s surface, it’s ready.
4. Place in a serving bowl and garnish with the green onions and hemp seeds. The green onions add a really nice flavor and texture to the soup, so don’t leave them out.
5. Stir in a very small amount of salt – just enough to enhance the flavor. About 1/8 teaspoon is all you need.
6. Serve warm immediately.
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