This delicious, nutritious immune-boosting soup from @feedingtheirfutures is packed with ingredients to help strengthen your family’s defence systems during the winter flu season.Whilst you can never fully control whether or not you get poorly, with daily positive actions you can strengthen your immune system, reducing your susceptibility to illness and better preparing your body for fighting off bugs.Some great habits to practice include:
- Eat mostly unprocessed whole foods
- Get enough protein, healthy fats, fruits and vegetables
- Consume an appropriate number of calories (to avoid gaining or lose excess body fat)
- Move regularly and get out in the fresh air daily
- Reduce smoking and excessive alcohol consumption
- Get plenty of sleep
- Manage stress with mindfulness exercises
INGREDIENTS
- 1 medium butternut squash
- 1 large sweet potato
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
- 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
- Ground spices: 1 tsp each of cinnamon and turmeric
- 1 litre chicken broth (ideally make your own for extra nutrients, by boiling the bones and carcass of a roast chicken for 3 hours, then straining off the liquid through a sieve)
METHOD
- Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees
- Cut the butternut squash in half lengthways and remove the seeds. Cut the sweet potato in half lengthways and place both face up on a baking tray. Roast for 30-40 months, until the flesh is soft.
- Meanwhile, fry the onion in olive oil in the base of a large pot until translucent.
- Add the garlic, apple and spices and fry for a few minutes.
- Once the sweet potato and squash have cooled, scoop out the soft flesh and add to the pot.
- Pour over the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and let it bubble for 10-15 minutes then turn off the heat and allow to cool.
- Blend until smooth with a stick blender or by transferring the mixture to a jug blender.
- Toast some seeds in a dry frying pan for topping (cut them small or grind them into sprinkles for smaller babies).
- Reheat the soup to serve, topped with Greek yoghurt and toasted seeds.
Eleanor
Wow this looks delicious, and so healthy! Thank you for sharing 🙂 x
Molly @ Transatlantic Notes
Ooh, this sounds so hearty and wonderful — perfect for our well-being and for this season. I love any kind of squash so this is exactly what I like. Thanks for sharing the recipe!