Here’s a recipe for “Blood Soup” that I recently shared with the Charis midwifery and doula students. I call it “blood soup” because it builds the blood (and looks like blood, too), assisting in increasing hemoglobin. My daughter Rose thinks it should be called “Beauty Soup” because it looks beautiful in the bowl and helps people look more beautiful when the color returns to their face after being pale from anemia.
As birth professionals, you will come across women who are anemic. This is just one good recipe to pass along to them. Although I believe the best way to get our nutrition is to eat the plants raw, some people will not eat them that way; so here is a cooked alternative to eating the veggies raw or juicing them.
“BLOOD SOUP”
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
Juice of 1 medium lemon (or 1 really large lime)
2 large fresh beets, diced
4 medium red potatoes (with skin), diced
2 large handfuls of chopped fresh kale
2 large ripe tomatoes, diced
2 large handfuls of fresh spinach leaves
2 C kidney beans (If using dried beans, soak and cook ahead of time)
1 large handful of chopped fresh dill
Salt and pepper to taste
In large soup pot, sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil for a few minutes. Fill the pot a little more than half full with pure water and add the lemon juice, potatoes, beets, and kale. Boil until the beets are tender. Add tomatoes and boil for about 5 minutes. Add all other ingredients and boil until the spinach turns bright green, about 5 or 10 minutes. Serve with whole grain bread or rolls.
Other vegetables can be added as well. I especially love big chunks of squash in this soup. Carrots, celery, cauliflower, other dark green leafies (turnip, dandelion, mustard, watercress, collards, etc), or any other favorite veggies are great. If you want to add whole grains to the soup, amaranth and barley contain iron. Other beans (like black beans, lima beans, etc) would work in this soup as well. The most important ingredients are the ones high in iron and the ones high in Vitamin C.
In addition to improving diet, pregnant women may find it necessary to take a supplement to raise the hemoglobin count rapidly. Floradix+Iron is a good liquid supplement. (I have seen very little improvement in women who just take extra iron in the form of pills. They just get constipated.) I personally like to see ALL pregnant moms take one or two tablespoons of World Organic liquid chlorophyll and drink one quart of an infusion of Nettles, Oatstraw, Alfalfa, and Red Raspberry leaf every day.
We’ll be posting iron-rich, blood-building recipes in upcoming Charis newsletters. If you have a good one, please share it! Send the recipes to newsletter@charischildbirth.org
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I am always looking for healthy recipes that taste really good. This one was inspired by the raw borscht recipe in the book “Eating Without Heating” by Sergei and Valya Boutenko. It looks beautiful in the bowl and tastes great!
Ingredients:
