Sort of, not really. More like my entire counter top was covered in pea soup looking liquid.
If you follow me on insta, you saw the beautifully posed food, food-porn-like photo-shoot, that I so proudly (hahaha) displayed showing the array of GREEN loveliness that would soon nourish my cleansed + detoxed soul. Are you laughing yet? I hope so.
Shortly there after, it erupted.
The last step of the recipe told me to put the entire soup into a 12 cup food processor. I did that. What I didn’t know was that I put too much in (batching the soup is better), it was hot, and it needed to breathe. Thus, soup was spewing everywhere from the food processor. I’ve never had this happen to me before. I was considering NOT processing the soup down to a puree since I already drank a meal (breakfast smoothie. I have teeth, and enjoy eating, actual food.) But against my better judgment (I’ll fill you in on my “toothpaste” soup another time) I did it.
It is Monday. The busiest day of the week in our household. Right now, at 9:13, is the first time all day I have had a chance to sit (besides in my car, but that doesn’t count). This meal needed to work. It had to work. I was making it work. Chloe has Little Gym class at 6:30, so we needed to lave the house by 6:15, putting shoes on at 6:00, and having our last bites of dinner at 5:50 (you know this routine, you’ve been there). My eruption happened at the wrong time. Oven pre-heating for emergency pizza was not happening. Chloe needed dinner before class.
I ended up saying, “Surprise! Dinners ready.” And scooped the remaining soup out of the food processor, added some milk, boiled it with some salt and pepper, and the kids miraculously ATE IT ALL. I’m not sure if they saw my face and decided that Mom just needed to catch a break, or if they were ravenous hungry from eating fruits and vegetables all day.
Here’s the recipe. It tasted OK – I’ll put my tweaks below too.
Spring Green Soup

• 3tbsp evoo
• 4 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 large shallot, chopped
• 1 bundle asparagus
• salt and pepper
• 2 cups frozen peas
• 1 15oz can of cannellini beans
• 2 cups unsweetened nut milk
• 1.5 cups low sodium and preservative free vegetable stock/broth
• 1 tbsp. fresh thyme
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1/4 nutritional yeast

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425. Toss asparagus (asparagus should be trimmed, and to trim, I mean bend the asparagus, where it snaps is where you trim off. I just snap all of my asparagus by hand, the woody ends are not enjoyable.) and shallot with 2 tbsp. evoo and season with salt and pepper on a foil lined, rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 10 minutes. Remove and set aside.
2. While asparagus is roasting, heat a dutch oven or stock pot over medium hi heat. Add 1 tbsp. of evoo. Add the garlic, more shallot if you have some, and cook for 1 min.
3. Add the peas, beans, milk, broth and thyme. season with salt and pepper. bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Cook for 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, chop up the asparagus into 1 inch pieces – add them to the pot.
5. This step is optional – I ended up NOT doing it, and it tasted just fine. Use immersion blender and puree the soup or transfer to a blender or food processor. Add nutritional yeast and top with fresh thyme.

Notes:  I added a few extra herbs because rosemary and oregano are best friends with thyme (fresh, or dried). Next time, on a non-meatless Monday day, I’ll also add some sweet Italian sausages, crumbled. Some whole milk or heavy cream would also go very well in this dish. An extra shallot or two is also great – I added shallot to the asparagus, and then to the soup. My shallots were really small, so it worked well. The nutritional yeast in my store is made in a facility with tree-nuts, so it’s not allowed in our house. We garnished with parmesan (take the block of cheese and use a potato peeler to get some nice long pieces of cheese over the top). Also had Triscuits with it for some carbs. MMM. Carbs.
We ate it. It was nice for meatless Monday. Next time, no food-processor. Cleaning that up was not fun.
Have a great week – tomorrow is coconut shrimp tacos with mango salsa and avocado cilantro sauce. Hope it turns out….I’ll post a pic first on insta.