Menu Mondays: Coconut Chickpea Soup*

The cream from the coconut milk and the kick with the curry will make your belly warm and happy. Plus, this has to be the tastiest soup you'll ever whip up with less than 5 minutes prep time that  doesn't involve pouring said soup from a can.

See Mrs. Married With Veggies Go All Artsy with the Spinach.

Minutes before full fat coconut milk got cut from Team Coconut Chickpea Soup.  

THE TEAM:  

• 3 cups cooked chickpeas (or 2 15-oz canned chick peas)
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups baby spinach (The recipe actually called for roughly-torn kale leaves with the rough stems removed, but kale doesn't play as nicely with the blender as spinach does, so I swapped it .) 
• 2 cloves garlic (optional)
• 15-oz low-fat coconut milk (Low fat is totally key because low fat is a liquid and regular has the consistency of shortening. Interesting note: Shortening doesn't play nice with the blender, either.)
• 1 tBsp curry powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp apricot fruit spread (Yeah, it's weird. But it was the best sub I could think of for honey, which is not technically vegan.)
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 0.25 tsp fresh ground black pepper 

 GAME PLAN:

Action shot! 

STEP 1. In a blender, combine chickpeas, broth, spinach, garlic, coconut milk, curry powder, cumin, apricot spread, salt, and pepper. 

Alien slime! 

STEP 2. Puree until completely smooth, about 30 seconds. Thirty seconds, my ass. I don't know what size blender you have, but one more measly chick pea would have sent food stuffs steaming down the outside of mine. I started at blend, worked my way up to liquify, and then I let that puppy whirrr until the spinach polka dots disappeared into the muck. 

Well, this looks like paste...

STEP 3. Transfer to a medium pot and heat on medium-high. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Divide among 4 serving bowls,  waste several minutes trying to get cute with a not-so-artful arrangement of spinach leaves, and serve with a side salad. 

317 calories, 14 grams fat, 47 mg sodium, 9 grams fiber, 13 grams protein (per sparkpeople.com)

*Adapted from a recipe in Clean Eating Magazine