Roasted Health and Heartiness

Roasted Beet and Winter Vegetable Soup

I love the girls I coach dearly. They inspire and motivate me to be a better leader, a better athlete and a better coach. They have however, been feeling fairly lousy. Given the fact that they are sleep-deprived college students that are under a consistent amount of ever building stress- it should come as no surprise that many of them have gotten sick.

Although its rumored that sharing is caring, I would prefer to have opted out of this one. I woke up one morning more congested than Downtown Boston on a Friday.Mucus was omnipresent and in short, I wanted to curl up in a ball and melt into my bed.

So, what did I do? I went home and made soup. The kind of healthful and and clearing presence that would allow me to breathe again. Math was never my favorite subject, but food equations make perfect sense to me.  Beets+Ginger+Miso+Lemon=Feel better fast.

Beets are rich in calcium, iron and vitamins A and C, an excellent source of folic acid and a very good source of fibre, manganese and potassium. Its known as a detoxifier of the liver and a multiplier of white blood cells. Their job? Killing off sick, abnormal I’m going to make you feel like poop sick cells.

Ginger is an antihistamine and decongestant. Stuffy nose no more!

Miso, the rather reddish looking paste that is synonymous with Asian food, is a probioticc. That means intestinal flora are kept happy and healthy and it will clear out any foreign and ill desired invaders.

In case you were wondering, I feel completely better-not even 48 hours later.

Ingredients:

Ginger and Beets are Meant for Each Other

1 Medium Squash

3 Medium Beets

1 White Onion

Cinnamon 

Lemon Juice

Fresh Thyme

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper 

One Box of Whole Foods 365 Miso Broth

1/2 Inch piece of ginger grated

Aluminum Foil

1. Oven to 425, place aluminum foil on pan (you’ll thank me later when the clean up is quick)

2. Slice squash or other root vegetable into 1/4 inch rounds, drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper

3. After washing beets drizzle them with Olive oil and wrap in Aluminum foil

5. Squash rounds- 5 minutes per side, beets roast for 50 minutes to 60. Check for Doneness by stabbing it with a fork and knife- it should easily sink into the beet.

6. While those are roasting, dice your onion. Drizzle a medium sized to large pot with a tbs of olive oil on medium high heat. After about three minutes, or when you feel the heat coming off of the pan, sauté your onion for 5-7 minutes. 

7. Grate your ginger right into the pan and sauté with onion.

8. Remove pot from heat,  and squash from the oven.

Go do your laundry while the beets take their sweet time. 

9.  Chop the beets roughly (no need to remove the skin- packed with nutrients) and add beets and squash to the pot along with a tsp

Add box of Miso broth, and bring to a gentle boil. Turn the heat down and let simmer for 10 minutes.

10. Using your food processor or preferably immersion blender, puree until soup reaches desired consistency

Finish with cracked black pepper, squeeze of lemon juice and a knob of goat cheese for pureed perfection

*Toasted almonds or pecans also make for a great crunch