Blizzard of Brocsnip Soup!

Today was awesome. I trudged through the freshly fallen snowstorm to the market with Brucifer. It's always really hard to drag my ass out of bed and be there by 8 on a Saturday morning, but he suggested that it was a beautiful morning out so I left with him when he went to work. I got a lot of great stuff at the market, which was dead as a tomb due to the holiday and the snowstorm. I scored some more carrots, a spaghetti squash, a pumpkin, a small broccoflower (this will be my first time using it), parsnips, a couple of sweet potatoes, some candy cane beets (white and pink swirls on the inside!), a bag of curly kale, a small daikon radish, a bunch of leeks, a piece of celeriac, two pounds of California Herb tofu and one kilogram of blackberries.

I kind of just chilled and drank tea and read today, and looked through some cookbooks for new ideas to use the produce I bought. Inspired by a recipe called "Christmas Parsnip Soup" by Kristina Turner from "The Self-Healing Cookbook" --which is more than just a cookbook, but a guide to the link between food, cooking and how we feel-- I made a really quick but wonderful soup. Anyway, here's my variation on her recipe, inspired by Halifax's first big storm of the winter:

Blizzard of Brocsnip Soup

4 c. water
3 c. parsnips, sliced finely
1 c. broccoli, including stem if necessary
2 tsp. dried sage
1 tsp. summer savoury
1/2 tsp. rosemary leaves
1 scant tbsp. light miso
a swirl of bragg's amino acids
sea salt and pepper to taste

Bring water to a boil and cook parsnips and broccoli with herbs for about 20 minutes, or until tender. When soup cools down to a temperature you don't mind getting splattered on your skin (just in case), add miso, salt and pepper and a touch of Bragg's and puree with blender, hand blender or food processor until desired consistency. This should be about right. Serves 3-4.

Parsnips-- sweet as hell and wicked sliced thin and pan-fried as chips, are also high in fibre, the oft-forgotten important but relatively difficult to find mineral manganese and vitamin C. The parsnip's flavour architect, winter frost, hath arrived most everywhere that's gonna get any. Grab 'em while you can and make 'em into something you can eat during a blizzard.