A Soup-er way to eat à la Alkaline Sisters

I’m convinced I am the third long-lost Alkaline Sister. I mean, I love eating healthily and I’ve always not-so-secretly wanted to be Canadian. We must be related. The Alkaline Sisters are Julie and Yvonne, passionate about healthy living and sharing this passion with the world via their beautifully photographed blog. I love their recipes – some raw, some cooked, and always delicious.

So far, 2012 has been a soup-er year thanks to them. I’ve been in a soup phase recently. I blame the cold weather and my Vita-Mix. I admit I’ve been a bit obsessed with pureeing anything and everything into creamy, smooth and delicious concoctions. Soup is such a wonderful idea. In sum, put whatever you want into a blender, mix it together and voilà! La soupe is served. Of course, some combinations are better than others, so that’s where mes amis the Alkaline Sisters come in. Their butternut squash soup with cilantro cream is the perfect meal for a cold winter day and their more recent green soup is a wonderful way to detox deliciously as our bodies start to deteriorate around this time of year.

I’ve tweaked their recipes à la Rebecook, but only made minor changes based on personal preference as their recipes are usually spot on the way they are. I swapped almonds for the brazil nuts in the cilantro crème, but you can really use any nut you want for this. I also added sweet potato to my soup for extra creaminess and added sweetness instead of the date. For the green soup, feel free to add or substitute any of your favorite greens – you can never have too many greens, especially this time of year. The green soup is also fabulous with coconut water instead of regular water – it adds an extra sweet energy boost that will keep you nice and hydrated all day. You can also add cucumber to this for extra hydration and, if you can't find daikon radish, feel free to use diced cucumber in its place. Black radish also makes for a great, digestion-friendly garnish, but it is quite bitter so you may not love the taste.

1 avocado


1 small zucchini, chopped


2 stalks celery, chopped


2 cups raw spinach


1/4 cup fresh parsley


1/2 cup fresh cilantro



1 small clove garlic


1/4 cup raw almonds, soaked overnight and peeled


*Optional: chives

*Optional: a pinch of cayenne pepper

1 1/2 cups filtered water


*Otional: 1 radish or cucumber, diced to garnish


1 sm-med sized organic butternut squash



1 tsp grated fresh ginger


1 clove of garlic

1 tsp fresh lemongrass

1 tbsp raw organic coconut oil


1/2 tsp garam masala


1/2 tsp organic curry powder


3/4 cup organic coconut milk (preferably a homemade mixture of the meat and water from a Thai young coconut)

1 small sweet potato


1 1/4 cup filtered water

1/2 cup almonds, soaked overnight then peeled


6 tbsp organic cilantro, roughly chopped


juice of one organic lime


1 tbsp raw organic coconut oil


1/2 cup water


1/4 tsp fine Himilayan salt