This 5-2 fast day Monday I’m beginning the week with a lean and mean green vegetable soup. Figuratively speaking I’m killing two birds with one stone. An effective de-tox to rid my system of the excesses of a Valentine Day’s weekend, and a cleaning out of my vegetable crisper drawer.
Lately I’ve been mad about kale, buying bunches by the armload to convert into silky olive oil and lemon massaged salads or crispy oven baked chips. Last week purple kale made an appearance at the markets, and of course I couldn’t resist snapping it up to try as well. Rich in minerals, vitamins and anti oxidants, this Queen of Greens, renowned for its cancer busting and cholesterol lowering capabilities, has quickly assumed superfood status. Perhaps I went a little overboard at the markets last week. A veritable mountain of kale languishing washed and shredded in the refrigerator, providing the perfect inspiration, along with leeks, celery, zucchini, beans and peas, for a deliciously healthy green de-tox soup.
Lean And Mean Green Vegetable Soup
10 Cups (95 calories per cup )
1 tablespoon olive oil (120 calories)
1 onion, diced (46 calories)
2 leeks, white part only, finely chopped (108 calories)
2 medium stalks celery (12 calories)
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and finely chopped (73 calories)
2 cloves garlic, finely (16 calories)
2 zucchini, finely chopped (60 calories)
3 cups shredded kale (99 calories)
1 cup green beans, topped and tailed, sliced on the diagonal into 2cm lengths (34 calories)
1 cup baby peas, fresh or frozen (118 calories)
4 stalks parsley, finely chopped (2 calories)
2 litres (8 cups) stock, chicken or vegetable (100 calories)
the rind of a piece of parmesan cheese (50 calories)
25 g parmesan cheese, shaved, to serve (108 calories)
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
PLACE oil in a large, heavy based saucepan over medium heat.
ADD onion, leeks and fennel. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes until soft and translucent.
ADD garlic. Cook until fragrant then add zucchini, kale, green beans and peas. Saute for 5 minutes until tender.
STIR in parsley,then add chicken or vegetable stock and parmesan rind.
BRING to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer gently, uncovered, for twenty minutes.
REMOVE parmesan rind from the soup, ladle into bowls and garnish with shaved parmesan to serve.
The Paddington Foodie 
I love all of the ingredients you’ve listed for your green soup! I think I would enjoy this whether I had a detox planned or not. Everything is readily available in my market so I’ll definitely give it a go.
Thanks for sharing!
Allison
This was very popular and more importantly filling. No complaints from the rest of the family although maybe that’s because I let them construct ice cream sundaes for dessert. One way to keep the non fasters in this house happy.
My family is threatening to put out a hit on the kale farmers of NSW. I have been so excited by the kale recipes – particularly the massaged raw kale, my fridge is chock a block (it takes up a lot of room, doesn’t it?) and they are rebelling. For me, I’m hooked! Thanks for another great recipe.
I can’t remember there being this much kale around last February. Must be a lucrative market for those farmers. It’s everywhere at the moment. I used to associate it with winter greens and cavolo nero which was always quite expensive and difficult to find.I might hold off buying more this week and stave off a potential rebellion.
For us, it’s the zucchini glut that’s the issue. Kale? No problems. A welcome relief from yet another meal based on a large home-grown zucchini!
Thanks for this idea, but I might leave out one ingredient.
We love zucchini too…difficult to choose between panko crumbed zucchini fries and confit zucchini pasta sauce. And of course when I’m feeling healthy I just run them through a spiraliser to make zucchini “fettucine”.
Well, we had some kale to cook up, so i made this soup. It’s really, really delicious.
Thanks. It’s so lovely to receive feedback. So glad to hear that you enjoyed it, I always feel so virtuous when I serve this for dinner.
Grrat recipe with all of those green veggies. And if you love kale try making kale pesto – it goes so far and works with all kinds of dishes….
That sounds delicious…thanks! Why didn’t I think of that?
This looks amazing! I’m also trying the fast from Oregon and this will be the perfect soup for when our garden has overwhelmed us and our fridge. Thanks, I can’t wait to try it!
Welcome Lulu. I think you might be one of the first 5-2 fasters from the US to visit the blog. Good luck with your journey…it does work and is very forgiving no matter how many times you jump on and off the wagon.
Making this tomorrow no Kale in Brisbane will use Spinach instead!
I know this is a late reply, but kale in Brisbane is hard to find. We ended up at Aldi, but that was a few months ago.
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This soup is awesome! I can’t believe how tasty it is! Thank you.
It’s an easy favourite in our house too – glad you enjoyed it.