Immune Booster Soup

This time of year, everyone seems to be sick ( not counting the corona threat).  I think just about everyone in the family has had some form of a bug, so everyday, the calls start first thing in the morning: How are you all feeling today? Everyone all good?

The other morning, I was taking the dog for a walk and listening to my favorite playlist (Broadway…total geek here) when my phone rang.  It was my SIL.  We were on for about three minutes when my parents called me back (they were returning my earlier, “how ya feeling”call), so I switched over to talk to them.  Meanwhile, a neighbor stopped me, not realizing I was on the phone (Bluetooth sunglasses–everyone in the neighborhood either thinks I am talking to the dog constantly or myself; I’m not sure which scenario makes me crazier, but people are starting to cross to the other side of the street when they see me coming).

After a minute or so of trying to figure out a graceful way of continuing my conversation with my parents, I told them that I would call them back since the neighbor showed no sings of slowing down or even letting me get a word in edgewise. I’m not sure it was even important that I was actually there since it was more of a monologue…kind of like a Shakespeare soliloquy, only longer and not nearly as interesting.

A hundred hours later, I finally escaped and tapped the button on the glasses to call back my parents.  Suddenly, I heard a man’s voice saying, “What the hell?” in my ear.  And it was not my father.

Oh crap! I practically jumped out of my skin.  Who had I dialed instead? Had I woken some poor guy from a sound sleep? That was a lot of anger for so early in the day.  Maybe he needed to switch to decaf.

Before I could decide what to do, he continued…”is a musical?”

The strange man on the other end of my bluetooth was Brian D’Arcy James, and that was the opening line to one of the songs from the musical “Something Rotten”.  Apparently, hitting the button does not return a call, it connects with whatever the last song you were listening to was.

I’ve gotta switch to a different playlist when I am walking the dog.

This soup is a staple around here now with its turmeric, ginger and cumin, not to mention lots of other healthy veggies.  Anything we can do to help boost our immune systems!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cauliflower florets (small)
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 head (3-4 cloves) garlic, sliced
• 3/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1  1/2 teaspoons turmeric
• 1  1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 1 can chickpeas (drained) or 1/2 cup green lentils (rinsed)
• 1  1/2 -2 cups vegetable broth

Directions:

1. In a medium pot, saute the onions and carrots over medium low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the spices garlic and cauliflower and saute for 1 minute.
2. Add the lentils or chickpeas, tomatoes and broth (1  1/2 cups for the chickpeas and 2 cups for the lentils).  Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to simmer.
3. Cook 30-35 minutes for the chickpeas and 35-40 minutes for the lentils, until the vegetables are tender and the lentils and cooked.

**The soup is pretty thick, so if you’d like it a bit more “brothy”, you should add a bit of water.  Adding more vegetable broth will only dilute the spice blend.

Enjoy!