For When You Just Can't: This Gut-Nourishing Dinner Takes 5 Minutes To Make (And You Already Have All Of The Ingredients)

This is the first post in our new Well Fed series, which is all about simplifying healthy food—and adding in a hefty serving of fun. Come hang out with me every Monday night on our Instagram stories, where I’ll be making this recipe and answering your questions!

After a hard day, the last thing I want to do is brave the fluorescent aisles of my local grocery store, but I'm also not keen to succumb to the siren call of greasy takeout made with questionable ingredients. That's when I reach into my metaphorical back pocket and pull out this trusty soup recipe, which is basically the quickest route to a delicious, healthy dinner, no special shopping trip required.

The base is just three ingredients—whatever vegetables you have stashed in your freezer (dig around a bit—you definitely bought a bag of peas in 2009), an onion, and some broth or stock, which you should always keep on hand in your pantry, if only to feel like you're a person who cooks. After that, you can kick up the flavor and health benefits with whatever else you can scrounge up: that lemon or lime leftover from Saturday's cocktails will brighten the whole dish; hulled hemp hearts you store for smoothies add a satiating complete protein; any fresh herbs (thyme, basil, cilantro, mint) provide tons of anti-inflammatory polyphenols while bringing freshness and life to the finished soup; avocado adds filling, mitochondrial-nourishing healthy fats.

The vegetable base, of course, is already packed with gut-loving fiber, and the flash-freezing process locks in nutrients (a farmer once told me that unless he picks broccoli from his own garden, he'll only eat frozen since so many vitamins are lost in the transit process).

Serves 2