Vegan Orange Harvest Soup, and Few More Reasons to Love Orange

According to legend, the first redhead ever was Prince Idon of Mu, who discovered Atlantis. He was permanently tattooed with the orange of the island’s sunset in the form of freckles and orange hair, to remind all Atlantians and all humankinds of the rapture that he experienced, as he stared into the first Atlantis sunset ever to be experienced by the human eye. So affective was orange in the creative imagination of the legend-makers, that they felt that Idon of Mu was meant to carry the beauty of an orange sky on himself, as a grown man covered in orange.

Here is a whole list of other reasons to love orange:

Orange is the color of fire, Garfield, Mario Batali’s crocs, traffic cones, orange juice, life vests, Goldfish, pennies, the Home Depot logo, Hermes boxes, monarch butterflies, the Golden Gate bridge, Nemo in Finding Nemo, Princeton tigers, Epoisses de Bourgogne, Chimay Vieux, Gjetost, the orange part of rainbow grilled cheese sandwiches, really good mangoes, and passionfruit ,when it is really ripe.

Orange is also the color of autumn harvest. This time of year, you can bury yourself in sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, apples, winter greens, mushrooms, and broccoli, but perhaps none of these are as affective as the sight of a field of pumpkins. They are so magical, that Cinderella’s fairy godmother plants Cinderella in one to go meet her prince and her destiny.

In yoga speak, orange is the color of the sacral chakra, located in the center of the abdomen and associated with the parts of consciousness that care about food and sex. From a yogic systems point of view, the more you care about food, the more you care about sex. If you care about food and sex, you should also care about beta-carotenes, which give orange vegetables their orange color.

Beta-carotene is a precursor of Vitamin A, which serves as an antioxidant that protects cells from harmful free radicals. Necessary levels of dietary beta-carotene have been shown to lower risk of a sluggish immune system, macular degeneration, coronary artery disease, stroke, and many age-related diseases.  Health and beauty benefits of beta-carotenes include a natural glow to your skin, because beta-carotenes reduce oxygen damage to the skin caused by UV light and pollutants, treat superficial skin conditions, and speed up the healing of skin lesions.

Orange vegetables tend to also be super sweet, making them more palatable to picky eaters than bitter dark leafy greens. To benefit from the sweetness of the orange harvest, head to your nearest farmers market (or grocery store) right now and collect roughly four pounds of orange produce.

Vegan Orange Harvest Soup with Carrot Top and Jalapeño Sauce and Coconut Cream

Orange Vegetables- I used a kabocha squash, a sweet potato, a potato, ginger, turmeric, a shallot, an apple, a few garlic cloves, a bunch of yellow beets, and a bunch of carrots.

3 Tablespoons of coconut oil, olive oil, sesame oil, ghee, any other fat, or a combination

3 Tablespoons of Curry Powder

1 Can of Full Fat Coconut Milk

3 cups of liquid (water, vegetable stock, bone broth, or a combination)

Optional Seasonings: lemon juice, ginger juice, apple cider vinegar, rice vinegar

1.     Peel one pumpkin or squash, one sweet potato, one potato, 1 shallot-sized knob of ginger, 1 knob of turmeric, 1 apple, a few garlic cloves, 1 bunch of yellow beets, and 1 bunch of carrots.  My favorite pumpkin is the kabocha squash, but any small-sized pumpkin will do.

2.     Chop your vegetables into unsightly pieces that are all roughly the same size. As part of the genius of this soup in the blender or the Vitamix, no one will know how these chopped vegetables looked.

3.     Add 3 tablespoons of coconut oil, olive oil, sesame oil, ghee, or any fat to a pot. Add your vegetables, salt, and curry powder. Lower the heat to low medium, and let them sweat, mixing the pot every five minutes in order to allow the vegetable to sweat evenly.

4.     Open your can of coconut milk and reserve the super thick coconut fat on top. Add the coconut liquid from the can and your 3 cups of  water or stock or a combination,

5.     Bring the soup to a boil, and then allow it to simmer for 10 minutes, until all the vegetables are cooked.

6.     Puree your soup in a blender, Vitamix, or with a stick blender. Add salt and pepper to taste, along with optional seasonings.

Carrot Top- Jalapeño Sauce 

1 bunch of carrot tops

1 bunch of basil

1 jalapeno

1 shallot sized knob of ginger

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

½ cup of olive oil

Clean your greens well and combine all ingredients in a Vitamix or blender. Blend until chunky.

Serve your soup topped with your carrot top sauce and the cream from the top of the coconut can. This cream can be “refreshed” by adding a few drops of warm water and stirring with a fork, until the texture resembles sour cream. The body in the presence of fat, so get excited thinking about food and orange and beta carotenes, putting a dollop or design of coconut cream into every bowl, best absorbs beta-carotenes.