Lettuce Soup

Prep Time: 10 minutes                         Cook Time: 25-35 minutes                 Add to MyFitnessPal

My partner and I moved to the woods to start our farm four years ago and had no idea what we were doing. We both love salads and decided to plant two 20 ft rows of mixed lettuce thinking, "This will be great!" We'd read that with cloches, row covers, and proper care, we could grow lettuce all year long; did out the math to figure out how much lettuce we'd need for roughly 3 months and went to sow. What we didn't realize was that if we planted all our lettuce at the same time, they would all reach maturity at about the same time. After weeks of careful cultivation, we had 3 months of greens, no idea of how to preserve it, and no where near the stomach capacity to eat it all. And thus, lettuce soup was born.

It sounds icky, but WOW it's good! I've been on full food for over 2 months and I still make this all the time, it's amazing!

Initially wary of cooking my lettuce, this is now my very favorite use of lettuce throughout the year!
Ingredients:
Olive Oil  - 2 Tbsp
Onion, diced - 1 cup
Garlic, minced - 1 tsp
Parsley, chopped, fresh - 1/8 cup
Chives, chopped, fresh - 1 Tbsp
Tarragon, minced, fresh - 2 tsp
Lettuce, chopped, fresh - 4 cups
Chicken stock - 3 cups
Salt - 2 tsp
Pepper, ground - 1 tsp
Protein Powder, unflavored - 2 scoops (I used Unjury for this recipe)

It doesn't matter what kind of lettuce you use - though the troutback (center) is my favorite!

Preparation:
In a heavy stockpot, preheat the olive oil. Once to temperature, add the onion and garlic, cooking until translucent.

Next add in the lettuce and cook on low, turning over frequently until fully wilted. 

This is when you're ready

Once the lettuce is wilted, add everything else except the protein powder and cook for 20 minutes on a low simmer. Pop it all into a blender and/or food processor and process until liquified. Using my Vitamix this usually takes about 5 minutes.


Nowhere near ready!

NOW we're talking!

Then stir in either some milk or a mixture of unflavored whey protein and water to add some body, protein and creaminess to the soup. I typically use milk from my goats or else coconut milk, but the protein powder works well and boosts your protein intake. The flavor is amazing and it's very gentle on a phase 2 pouch. Want a little more flavor? Add some onion powder to your finished product - YUM!

Nutrition:
Calories: 152
Fat: 7 g
Carbs: 9 g
Protein: 12 g
Sodium: 466 mg