Valentine Soup

This heartwarming soup is an excellent source of vitamins A, B and C. Nuts are your brain food and parsley supplies you with chlorophyll and iron. If you have a juicer, this soup is an ideal way to use up your carrot pulp.

4 cups (1 l) purified water
1 1/2 vegetable bouillon cubes such as Harvest Sun
1/4 cup (60 ml) whole wheat or rye flour, freshly ground if possible
1 cup (250 ml) carrot pulp (left over from juicing carrots), optional
1/2 cup (125 ml) cashews or almonds
1/4 cup (60 ml) sprouted wheat, optional
Herbal salt, such as Herbamare or Spike, to taste
Cayenne pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp (30 ml) fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into 1/4" (5-mm) rings

Boil 3 1/2 cups (875 ml) of the water in a medium-size pot. Add vegetable bouillon cubes and carrot pulp. Simmer for 20 minutes, then pour broth through a sieve to strain out pulp. Dissolve whole wheat (or rye) flour in remaining 1/2 cup (125 ml) of cold water and add to broth. Simmer for about five minutes until broth starts to thicken. Pour broth into a blender and add cashews (or almonds) and sprouted wheat; blend until smooth. Season with herbal salt and cayenne, then pour into soup bowls. Sprinkle with parsley and garnish with pepper rings. You can shape the pepper rings into hearts by overlapping them over each other. Serve at once. Serves two.

Source: alive #244, February 2003