Healthy Recipe of the Week: Immune-Boosting Chickpea and Roasted Garlic Soup

As stress is inevitable in this century, many of us see the signs of ageing at an early stage. And just like anyone else, we don’t like seeing those fine lines that mark the years gone by. But why do we age so fast in this generation when ancient people were able to live for hundreds of years? Well, the answer to that is obviously long and scientific, but to sum it up, stress and poor diet play a significant role in the ageing process.

Stress is brought about by unhealthy lifestyle, bad environment and poor emotional management among many others. Poor diet on the other hand, debilitates the immune system, causing it to break down and become unable to fight off free-radicals and other bad elements that cause ageing and diseases to manifest.

A celebrated esthetician and author of “The Ciminelli Solution: A 7 Day Plan For Radiant Skin,” Susan Ciminelli, said, “A lot of women won’t take the time to cook for themselves, but if they do they will be rewarded with longevity. If you rely on takeout and processed foods, you will eventually have inflammatory disease.” Eating fresh vegetables, including herbs help fight off inflammation as well as acne, pore enlargement and puffy eyes that come with it. So, the bottom line is you have to make sure you’re eating right and healthily. With that, our healthy recipe for the week is for everyone who loves eating and who wants to stay younger-looking at the same time: Chickpea and Roasted Garlic Soup. Enjoy cookin’.

Ingredients for this healthy recipe:

• 2 quarts of chicken stock
• 2 cups of chickpeas (cooked)
• 2 tbsp olive oil (extra virgin)
• 2 tsp rosemary (freshly chopped)
• 1 onion (small and chopped)
• 1 carrot (chopped)
• 1 large head of garlic (roasted)
• 1 stalk of celery (chopped)
• ½ cup of flat-leaf parsley (freshly chopped)
• Sea salt
• White pepper (freshly ground)
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon

Note: these ingredients are good for 6 – 8 servings.

Healthy Recipe Preparation for the Soup:

1. Heat olive oil in a soup pot under medium heat.
2. Put the onions in, as well as the carrots and celery. Sauté for 10 minutes.
3. Put in the chicken stock, chickpeas, rosemary and roasted garlic. Cook them for 20 minutes.
4. When the soup is finished, transfer it in batches to a blender and puree. You can also use an immersion blender. Put the pureed soup back to the pot and reheat.
5. Taste the soup and decide whether or not it needs more seasoning. Stir in the lemon zest, juice and parsley just before serving the soup.

Healthy Recipe Preparation for Roasted Garlic:

Note: you have to do this before making the soup.

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Remove the top section of each garlic head and place it in an aluminum foil. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive, and wrap each piece of garlic with the aluminum foil and roast for 45 minutes.
3. Remove the garlic from the oven to cool. Pinch all the garlic out of the skin and into a small bowl. Put in the parsley, salt and pepper.