Looks Disgusting but Oh! So Delicious! Creamy Broccoli Lentil Soup

Dr. Fuhrman's Creamy Broccoli Lentil Soup, McDougallized

One of the perks of being a paying member to Dr. Fuhrman's web site is the access to all those delicious recipes. 

This is one of them.  

I read on the forums once that they can be shared with non-members, as long as credit is given to the Dr. Fuhrman web site and/or the originator of the recipe. No name was associated with this one so I can't give proper credit. It may have been Dr. Fuhrman or his wife Lisa, or it may have been a forum member - I have no idea.

I'll post the recipe as written, then mention my changes after it:

Creamy Broccoli Lentil Soup
www.DrFuhrman.com

Serves: 8
Preparation Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
8 cups water
2 cups carrot juice, fresh or bottled
1 pound dried lentils
2 pounds plum tomatoes, chopped
4 cups broccoli, chopped
2 onions, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 small zucchini, chopped
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 yam, peeled and chopped
3 tablespoons Dr. Fuhrman's Riesling Raisin Vinegar or balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup raw cashews or 1/4 cup raw cashew butter

Instructions:
Place all ingredients except yam, vinegar and cashews in a large soup pot. Bring to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes. Add yam and simmer for an additional 15 minutes or until lentils and vegetables are tender.
Remove from heat. Add vinegar.
Remove 2 cups or more of soup and puree with the cashews in a food processor or high powered blender. Stir back into soup.

I used a can of whole plum tomatoes instead of fresh. Jeff Novick taught me to always have some on hand.

Ditto frozen broccoli. I used a full one-pound bag of frozen chopped broccoli instead of fresh.

But I didn't have any zucchini on hand so skipped it. Maybe next time, but you can be sure I'll use frozen instead of fresh.

Again, a Jeff Novick hint with the sweet potatoes. I have a few already baked in the refrigerator so used one of those instead of peeling and cutting a raw one.

My balsamic vinegar was outdated by a year - Yikes! - but I do have a bottle of fig vinegar and used that instead.

I skipped the cashews entirely.

Instead of taking just 2 or so cups of soup to blend, I just took an immersion blender to the whole pot. If I tossed it in the Ninja for a few minutes it probably would have been smoother, but it was worth it not to have to clean that thing and accept the few little grit-sized pieces of vegetables and lentils in the soup.

It says it makes 8 servings. These are nice hearty serving sizes, not tiny one-cup ones. This is definitely a family-sized recipe, or one of those "make Sunday and eat every day for a week" recipes.

And why do I say it's disgusting in the blog post title? Well, when my husband first saw it in the bowls he said it looks like it'll look the same going in as it will coming out. So it's not an especially good looking soup, but it does taste delicious! Another keeper for this family, for sure.