Chickpea Cilantro Soup

I never used to like soup, aside from chicken and stars with a bunch of saltines. I think the reason I wasn't into soup had to do with not having much soup growing up, as well as not liking celery, which seems to be in most soups.

I've been surprised, however, that I've like nearly every soup I've made, even without a recipe. Inspired by Dr. Joel Fuhrman's suggestions of cooking soups, I've tried a few that involve blending.

This time I made a soup not very much like those Dr. Fuhrman recommends, but good and healthy nonetheless. First I sauteed some onions and then some garlic in a cast iron pan. I transferred this to a bigger pot and added some water, turned it to medium-high and added some chili powder, garlic powder, Bragg's liquid aminos, epazote, and part of a chopped over-sized and tough zucchini that some friends grew in their garden. Once the zucchini was pretty well cooked, I put some water, sunflower seeds, and leftover cilantro stems into a blender, then used a slotted spoon to add about half of the non-liquid ingredients from the soup pot.

You have to be careful with hot liquids in blenders. I usually use less liquid while cooking, then add cool water for the blending, then mix the rest of the hot liquid in at the end- in the pot.

I poured the portion I just blended into a large glass container that I will use for leftovers if there are any. I then added a bit more water and the rest of the non-liquid pieces from the cooked soup. I then added all of the blended soup in with the liquid that remained in the pot. I then added some cooked chickpeas, tasted it, and added a tiny bit more each of Bragg's, cayenne, and chipotle powder. I also added a little bit of lemon juice (didn't have fresh). Now I need to eat it because it's getting cold...