Simple Celery Soup

This soup is a dieter’s dream- super low in calories, helps to fill you up and celery is a natural diuretic so it may help a bit with belly bloat as well! Oh- and not to mention, it tastes good too ☺

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 finely chopped fresh garlic clove (1 teaspoon)
½ cup chopped white or yellow onion
4 cups chopped celery
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth (*use a gluten-free brand such as Progresso Natural if you are on a gluten-free diet)

Directions:

Add ½ teaspoon of olive oil to a large pot, along with the onions and garlic and sauté them on medium-high heat until lightly browned/tender, about 3-4 minutes. Put in the other ½ teaspoon of olive oil plus the chopped celery and saute some more, stirring frequently for another 3-5 minutes. Add the broth, bring to a boil, then reduce to low heat and simmer for 7-10 minute, until the celery is tender. Turn off the heat and cool for 5-10 minutes, then carefully transfer the soup into a blender. If you have a smaller blender do this in batches, instead of blending the entire amount at one time. Add only one fourth to one half of the mixture at a time (you can put the other half in a large bowl.)
**A note about blending hot liquids: in order to be safe, it is recommended when you blend hot liquids that you never fill the jar more than half full, that you put the lid on and then cover it with a dry towel and hold it down by hand. Or instead, cover with the top, but leave out the center plastic covering, place a kitchen towel on top, which will allow air to escape more gently. Also, use as slow a speed as possible. NEVER blend hot liquids fully covered and at high-initial speed...you're just inviting burns as the hot liquid quickly blends, heats up the air above it, and causes an explosion through the blender top.

Blend in batches on low speed for about a minute, until a smooth consistency is reached. Put all of the finished blended mixture back in the saucepan and warm on low heat for 5 -10 minutes, stirring frequently (to prevent the thick soup from spattering.)

Variation: to reduce sodium content you can use low sodium broth

Makes 4 cups, four servings

Serving size: 1 cup Calories 45 Protein 2 g Carb 5 g Fiber 2 g Sugars 3 g Fat 1.5 g saturated fat 0 g Sodium 780 mg