No Go: Trying The "Eat Your Greens Detox Soup"

I recently came upon this recipe via my beloved. He sent me the link and said "I'd try this." After a short round of questioning his sanity, we agreed to try it. 

The only thing I changed was subbing curry powder for the required turmeric. I was NOT about to pay $4.37 for a tiny little vial of turmeric (same size as the curry powder in the picture). Nope. We do not eat nor make any Indian-inspired recipes, and therefore, it would be like paying $4.37 for 1/2 a teaspoon. And again...nope. 

I did go ahead and buy the seaweed wraps, because they were only $2. Yet, I'm pretty sure I just paid $2 for two sheets of the stuff because I seriously don't know what I'm going to do with the rest of it. 

Let's face it...I've tried two dishes now with fresh ginger and I'm fairly certain that I will safely be happy with NOT consuming it again in the future. It is just not for me. I gave it a good try. The recipe calls for 1 1/2 to 3 teaspoons, I figure this was close to the 1.5 side....and I have the world's cheapest and crappiest grater, so it was more like mushed ginger. 

My only question: How can I ADORE Vernor's Ginger Ale and yet despise the taste of fresh ginger in food?  I don't get it.  

I used one container of mushrooms (14 shrooms, exactly). It was a bit over the required 3 cups, sliced, but it was fine. 

Here are the veggies before they cooked down considerably...

These are the veggies, cooked down, with the spices and ginger added. Steamy stuff!

As for kale, it didn't specify what kind of kale, so I got the Lacinto (Black) kale. I did tear the leaves from the stems which are rather tough and therefore would be kind of gross as an addition to the soup. 

This is the kale and the seaweed combined. LOOK at the color of that seaweed! It's GORGEOUS. If I could have everything in that shade of iridescent, shiny, khaki-ish green, that would be great, thanks! I used my kitchen scissors to cut the two sheets into long strips, then just cut them into bite-sized (1-2" pieces)

This is the basic soup (before kale and seaweed)

This is the final soup, after adding the greens...I let it simmer for another 15 minutes or so. 

Here it is, in the bowl. Served with whole grain Italian bread. 

And now that you've seen how it's made, I will tell you OUR opinion. 

If I can just find the right words....

Ok, yeah, so I think we have established that we don't go much for the combination of spices (the curry, cumin, ginger thing). That's NOT to say that you won't love it to pieces. It just was not a flavor that made us go back for seconds or even finish the firsts. 

It's definitely packed with nutrients and very low in fat/calories but other than that, we could have very easily done without. I'll try anything once (within reason, of course). My husband decided that perhaps it would have been better WITHOUT the spices/ginger, with more garlic and chicken stock instead of the veg stock. I don't tend to disagree. 

However, that would then just be more of a vegetable soup and the chicken stock would deter from the health benefits. 

SO, all in all, if you like Indian foods, or anything that involves ginger, this might just suit your tastie buds. I'm not saying it sucked at all, just that it was not something we will make again. 

A side note: I think adding the broccoli so soon in the cooking process was a mistake. By the time the soup was finished, you couldn't tell by texture or flavor that anything in there used to be broccoli.  I think it might be better to blanch the broccoli for 2-3 minutes, separately, and then add it in when you add the kale and seaweed. THEN you would have substantially more texture and flavor. Just a thought. 

The complete recipe: Eat Your Greens Detox Soup, courtesy of blogger Angela Liddon,