Ultimate Green Splendor Soup

I've been experimenting with soups to bring with me to rehearsal at night, but this one was just so much fun to make that I'll probably just start making it at home to munch on. This is a completely guilt-free, extra tasty chilled soup to cool your palate in the hot weather and soothe your throat through flu season. It's sweet, tangy, and full of delicious nutrients.

Did you know that spinach is a super concentrated source of iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamins K, C, E, and many of the Bs including folate? Folate, for those of you who don't know, is a water soluble B vitamin that helps produce and maintain new cells (you need it to make DNA and RNA) and one of the cool things about that is that eating more of it can help prevent changes to DNA that lead to cancer! How awesome is that? Asparagus is also very handy, full of potassium, fiber, folacin, thiamin, B6, and rutin. There has been evidence that rutin strengthens blood vessels and can help improve circulation. And apples keep the doctor away; everyone says so.

Ultimate Green Splendor Soup
(serves ~8)

1/2 lb asparagus, wooden ends broken off, cut into 2 inch sections
1/4 lb baby spinach, chopped
5 green onions, white parts removes, diced
1 avocado
juice of half lemon
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
3/4 cup water
sea salt
fresh ground black pepper
2 gala apples, chopped
1/2 cup coconut milk, unsweetened and unflavored

Puree asparagus with 3/4 cup water until smooth. Add the green onions and spinach. If you have a small food processor like me, just keep removing the blended veggies to a sealable bowl. After the green onions and spinach, add mint and lemon juice and blend again. Next add the avocado. Blend again. Chop up the two apples to small bits and blend those with the veggies. Add the coconut milk. Blend again. Make sure that all your delicious bits are well combined. Salt and pepper to taste (I used a couple turns of sea salt and about 3 tsp of fresh ground black pepper). Serve chilled. Enjoy!