Broccoli: The Powerful Cure for Colds & Flus You’ll Love To Eat!

Packed with anti-oxidants and twice as much vitamin C as oranges, this delicious broccoli-watercress soup will keep you healthy this cold and flu season!

Aah, the joys of autumn… brightly colored leaves, crisp air, rain, wildly fluctuating temperatures, shorter days, kids bringing back mass quantities of germs, bacteria, and viruses home from school.  No wonder we get sick more often!

As much as I enjoy lying on the couch for a week and binge watching old Avatar cartoons on Netflix, I could definitely do without the runny nose, sore throat, cough, fever, and sleepless nights!  So today I’m going to share with you my secret weapon against getting sick:  BROCCOLI! 

Broccoli is not only great for preventing colds and flus, it will help you recover faster if you do catch one.  With almost twice as much vitamin C as oranges, broccoli contains powerful antioxidants that help ward off colds, fight off infections, and reduce inflammation.  Seriously, you’re going to want to work broccoli into your diet at least twice a week!

The fresher it is, the sweeter your broccoli will taste, so look for firm, tightly packed heads and look at the bottom of the stem to check for freshness.  As far as flavor goes, I also have way more luck with organic varieties.

This soup is one of my favorite ways to eat broccoli.  Add watercress to the mix for an even more powerful concoction full of vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin K, antioxidants, and dietary nitrates.

This broccoli soup freezes really well, so make a big pot and freeze it in batches to have on hand for a quick delicious lunch!

Broccoli-Watercress Soup

Ingredients

• 1 Tbs butter
• 1 leek
• 1 white or yellow onion
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 potato
• 1 head broccoli
• 1 bunch of watercress
• sea salt and white pepper
• cream, crème fraîche, goat crème fraîche, or full fat yogurt for garnish (optional)

Preparation

1. Melt the butter in a stock pot over very low heat.
2. Meanwhile, cut the green tops and root ends from the leek, slice it in half lengthwise, rinse under cold running water, and coarsely chop.  Cut the top and bottom off of the onions, peel, and coarsely chop.
3. Add the leeks and onions to the pot, sprinkle with some salt, cover and cook until limp but not colored, about 15 minutes.
4. Peel and slice the potato.
5. Add the stock and potatoes, bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
6. Now rinse the broccoli.  Trim off the end of the stalk, then slice off the stalk, peel it, and slice it.  Separate the florets and cut in halves or quarters if necessary so they’re all about the same size.
7. Add the broccoli to the soup and simmer for about 10 minutes – just until they’ve turned a bright green.
8. Remove from the heat, stir in the watercress, and let it stand for 2 minutes.
9. Process the soup in batches in blender or food processor, then pass through a food mill or sieve.
10. Add salt and white pepper to taste.

Serve as is, or with a drizzle of your preferred creamy substance!

This soup will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator and freezes beautifully.

Feeling sluggish?

Anxious all the time and can’t just ‘will away’ your stress?

WANT TO FEEL BETTER QUICKLY AND EASILY?

Imagine waking up feeling great every morning, looking in the mirror and loving what you see, being crystal clear about who you are and what kind of life you want for yourself, without running off to Costa Rica for a month-long retreat, or worrying that it’ll just mean adding 50 more things to your to do list.

I know how you can do it and I’m going to show you how.

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?  I’d love to see it! Tag @yourholisticlifereset on Instagram and hashtag it #yourholisticlifereset!

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