I know it has been a while since any review or post. Intense yoga teacher training, the holidays, work, and my attempt at writing my first book can make you forget you've created such a brilliant website. Luckily, I have some down time since I'm freezing my ass off visiting my grandmother in Belgium. I thought in the spirit of my rare encounter with snow, I'd warm my loyal readers with one of my favorite soup recipes. I did about four weeks of just soups alone during my culinary school days. but never once did they do this peas soup. My sister takes credit for my love affair with pea soup. It was her go-to meal which she was sick of easy-mac (which I never ate anyway as a kid because of my cheese aversion) or frozen burritos. Of course hers was the canned version, so you can imagine how delicious the homemade version is! As a bonus, its super easy and frugal (what more could a Jewish chef like myself want!) Its great chilled too! But honestly, in this cold, even ice cream isn't appealing (which if you know me, is RARE!) P.S. thanks to recipes.com for helping my figure out the nutritional stats for those interested

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup shallots and/or leef finely chopped
• 1 pound frozen or fresh (shelled) green peas
• 1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 3 cups , reduced sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
• 4 tbsp low fat sour cream or plain/greek yogurt plus mint sprigs for garnish
• Crumbled and crisped turkey bacon or real bacon, if your being naughty ;) for garnish

Preparation:

Heat oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Sauté the shallots and/or leeks a low heat until softened. Add peas, mint, parsley and broth, stirring well. Bring to a boil then simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes.

Transfer to a blender, reserving some of the liquid, and puree until smooth. Add remaining liquid depending on desired thickness of soup. Ladle into 4 bowls and top with mint and yogurt or sour cream (or if dairy makes your stomach do flips sometimes like myself, I hear this is great with plain, unsweetened almond milk too) if desired.

Per Serving (appx) Calories 120, Calories from Fat 24, Total Fat 2.6g (sat 0.4g), Cholesterol 0.4g, Sodium 579mg, Carbohydrate 19.2g, Fiber 5.8g, Protein 7.4g