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Asparagus is one of my all time favorite vegetables! There’s something so refreshing about it. The color is vibrant, it cooks up super fast and it’s simply delicious any way you prepare it. 

This beautiful vegetable has a such a short season though … maybe that’s what makes it so special. It’s only available in the spring. 

I can’t get enough of asparagus once spring arrives in Northern California. I love to sauté it by itself, roast it with parmesan, sauté it with fennel, put it into crustless spring quiche, add it to sweet and tangy chicken “take-out”, shave it into salads, and of course, enjoy it in soup. 

Spring is not complete without Cream of Asparagus Soup.  

This traditional spring soup is simple, fresh, creamy and highlights the asparagus flavor. It’s super easy to make too! 

My favorite way to make this soup is in my beloved Instant Pot. I love the Instant Pot so much! It’s a game changer for making fast, real food. Once the pressure builds in the pot, this soup only takes 5 minutes to make! I even sauté the onions and garlic in the Instant Pot first {I love the sauté feature}. How cool is that? 

So next time you’re at the farmers market or local store, grab a few bundles of fresh asparagus, make some soup and enjoy the taste of spring. 
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You Will Need: Cutting Board, Instant Pot, Blender or Immersion Blender
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1. Prep asparagus, onion and garlic. Remove all woody ends from asparagus stalks and discard. Chop asparagus into 1 inch pieces. Slice onion in half and do a rough chop of the onion. Smash garlic cloves or do a rough chop. Set aside.
2. Place the stainless steel bowl in the Instant Pot without the lid on. Set the Instant Pot to “Sauté” and add healthy fat of choice. As soon as the butter/ghee/healthy fat is melted, add onions and garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally, just until onions and garlic are fragrant and starting to caramelize. 
3. Add dried thyme, stir and cook for 1 minute. 
4. Add broth. Use a wooden spoon to help scrape up any caramelization at the bottom of the pan. 
5. Add asparagus, lemon zest, lemon juice and sea salt.
6. Press the “Keep Warm/Cancel” button on the Instant Pot. Place Instant Pot lid on top, secure it into the locked position. Make sure the valve on the top is in the sealed position. 
7. Press “Manual” {on HIGH pressure} and then the “-” until you get to 5 minutes. Walk away, the Instant Pot will take several minutes to build pressure. You will notice 5 {and counting down} on the screen once it starts cooking. 
8. When timer sounds, turn Instant Pot off by pressing the “Keep Warm/Cancel” button and unplug the Instant Pot. Allow to naturally pressure release for a few minutes then using an oven mitt, turn the valve to release the pressure {it will release hot steam, use caution not to touch the steam}.
9. Puree soup in small batches in a blender until smooth {or use an immersion blender instead}. Add sour cream during one of the blending batches. Transfer pureed soup to a stockpot, large bowl or back into the Instant Pot bowl, reheat if necessary. 
10. Season to taste and serve hot topped with extra sour cream, lemon juice, or extra virgin olive oil.
    

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• To make the recipe dairy free, you can omit the sour cream. You could also add full fat coconut milk or plain coconut milk yogurt instead, but note this will change the flavor a bit. Instead of butter or ghee, I recommend using avocado oil or bacon fat.   
• Store up to two days in the refrigerator. 

Recipe by Emily Sunwell-Vidaurri, founder and author of Recipes to Nourish.

I hope you enjoy this fantastic soup recipe from Erin at Eat Real, Stay Sane!

If you need to modify for daily-free, replace the milk with coconut milk and leave out the cheese. It will still be broth-y and delicious. You can also replace the cilantro with flat-leaf parsley if preferred.​ 

This past Super Bowl we wanted to have a healthier get-together without sacrificing taste. We had chicken wings with a honey ginger glaze, salad, soup, all-natural ice cream and brownies (for Mom’s birthday), and Muddy Buddies.

So Muddy Buddies are not on the healthy list, BUT I did use homemade chocolate, healthy peanut butter, and organic powdered sugar. One thing that we do a lot in our house is rejigger junk food recipes to contain healthier ingredients. We just need to find a healthy alternative to Rice Chex. Um, probably not happening though.

The soup however, was a different story. It’s a cheesy chicken soup with Mexican-style flavors. It’s perfect for a winter day and definitely hearty enough to eat alone for dinner. AND it was perfect Super Bowl food because it was thick enough that we could scoop it up with our organic tortilla chips from Costco. Nacho city!

We love these kinds of recipes. Crazy delicious, with a little kick, and yet doesn’t taste healthy! Adding the rice to it changes the whole game and that’s how it turns from a nice side soup into a one-bowl dinner extravaganza.

It’s one of those holdover recipes from our pre-healthified eating days and yet a few tweaks make this a healthy staple in our non-processed household.

And just a note on the amaranth: it’s actually a type of grain, but it’s completely gluten-free. It’s got sort of a nutty flavor, so you can’t use it in recipes like cookies or brownies. For dinner-type meals where a slight flavor injection is welcome, it works great. For example, we use it in our onion ring recipe.
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Anyway, this recipe is probably our new favorite and we plan on making it about 37 times in the next month. Enjoy!
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1. Melt the coconut oil and butter in large stock pot.
2. Add bell pepper, poblano pepper, onion, chili powder, cumin, coriander, salt, and pepper. Cook the mixture for 5-6 minutes until the veggies begin to soften.
3. Add the minced garlic and stir constantly for 1 minute.
4. Whisk in 3 Tablespoons of amaranth and cook for 2 minutes, stirring contantly.
5. Add broth and milk, whisking until smooth.
6. Add rice and let it simmer (not boil!) for 35 minutes, or until the rice is done. For this step, we kept the heat low and checked every few minutes and stirred.
7. Combine cheese with 3 Tablespoons amaranth in a bag. Then add cheese to the soup, stirring until completely melted.
8. Add chicken, tomato, and cilantro to pot and allow it to heat through, about 3-5 minutes. Serve immediately.

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