I am a very lazy cook and delight in recipes that are simple to make but still pack a nutritional punch.
This recipe for Red Lentil and Lemon Soup hits all of my recipe pleasure points: It is quick, easy and packed with flavour created by simple but nutritionally dense ingredients.
Lets break it down and take a look at how this simple soup recipe can support our beautiful midlife body:
1. Lentils. Rich in fibre and iron this quick to cook plant protein source helps to support our daily detox (read poop!) with fibre so that excess hormone can be eliminated from the body, helps to keep our iron stores healthy, provides us with energy boosting B vitamins and lentils give us slow burn energy that helps us to feel full and happy!
2. Bone Broth. I keep repeating myself on this one; bone broth is a superfood for the midlife woman.
Mineral dense to support weary adrenal glands and a sluggish thyroid, bone broth provides us with easily absorbed amino acids that support gut health (no more gassy bloat ladies!) collagen for joint health and great looking skin, and again with the minerals that support our bone health as we move into the next chapter. You can read more here
3. I am just going to give some praise to the cumin and chilli that give this recipe such a delicious flavour. These spices are warming to the body and support the midlife woman in maintaining a healthy metabolic rate. Spicy foods warm us from the inside out and ignite our internal furnace or metabolic rate giving the thyroid gland a ‘baby vacation’. And again…flavour!
4. Let’s talk about fast food! This nutrient dense soup is on the table within 20 minutes providing you with a delicious meal in less time than it would take you to order in. AND YOU WILL BE SUPPORTING YOUR HEALTH! Yes! I am shouting. Do yourself a solid ladies and throw the ingredients in your slow cooker!
5. Most of the ingredients for this recipe are found in the store cupboard or the bottom of your crisper. One carrot, an onion, a bag of red lentils, spices and some tomato paste. This recipe is a health promoting food and unlike a Gywneth endorsed juice cleanse, is within the budget and capabilities of everyone.
Life is busy, you don’t have time to spend hours in the kitchen labouring over supper, this recipe gives you a delicious and quick midweek option that delivers nutrition to your body in warming tasty mouthfuls.
…whenever you make bone broth, this recipe should be uppermost in your mind and if you are curious about which other foods work hardest to build health for a midlife woman you can download my FREE E-book, 10 Essential Health promoting Foods for the Midlife Woman.
Ingredients
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 carrot diced
1 tsp ground cumin
1tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup red lentils
11/2 quarts chicken bone broth
1/2 lemon juiced
1 cup frozen spinach (optional)
Instructions
Gently melt the coconut oil in a pan and add the onion garlic, carrot and salt and spices
Sauté the vegetables and spices gently to release their delicious aroma
Add the tomato paste and simmer for 1 minute to cook the paste out and improve the flavour
Add the lentils, chicken bone broth and lemon juice and simmer the soup for 20 minutes or until the lentils are softened.
Blend the soup with a hand blender to form a smooth texture.
Add a cup of frozen spinach to increase the iron content of the soup or more lemon juice if you like a sour soup
Enjoy!
If you like warming spices and meals that pack a punch with flavour, click here to get my recipe for anti-inflammatory Turmeric and Vegetable Thai Curry.