Detox vegetable soup

As so often happen, the weekend did not quite go the way I had planned.  I slept later than I thought I would and woke up famished.  That rarely happens but when it does I know better than to force myself to wait a long time to eat.  Then I realised I still had one slice of quiche still left in the fridge so I ate that, telling myself that I'd go to the market then and start my mini-detox in the afternoon.  But I had also forgotten that I took what I thought was bean and veg soup out of the freezer on Thursday evening to have on Friday evening.  On Friday evening though I used up loads of leftovers and wasn't hungry enough to eat soup as well.  And then when I opened the Tupperware (someday I'll go back through this blog and add the trademark symbol to every mention of Tupperware but until then Tupperware, please forgive me and be at least happy with the fact that when I say Tupperware I really do mean Tupperware and not just any plastic box) I realised it was actually the last portion of the rustic turkey and orange pot that I made at the end of January.  Beans would have been slightly stretching the idea of eating only fruit and veg this weekend but meat was definitely going way off course.  It was still delicious though.  Must make that again some time soon.  Since I was so off course anyway I also ate the three small Mars bars yesterday, had an apple in the afternoon and finished the day with a medium bag of salted popcorn at the cinema.  I say medium but I had the feeling that I ate through the entire film and I still had some left when I got home.  Nice that German cinemas are starting to sometimes offer salted popcorn as well as sweet. though.

So the detox yesterday was a bit of a bust.  I did, however, go to the market and spent nearly fifteen euro buying all of this lovely lot:

White cabbage, kohrabi, chard, wild garlic, rhubarb, apples, lettuce, carrots

I did use a small amount of butter for sauteeing the onions but otherwise the soup I made was all veg with just a small amount of stock powder.  I used:

2 smallish onions
2 leeks
6 carrots
Half a bunch of wild garlic
1 kohlrabi, including stems and leaves
Handful of chard
Half a head of white cabbage
Teaspoon of tumeric
Rest of the jar of passata that I had opened earlier in the week

All of that went in to a big pot, was brought to the boil and then I turned the heat down and just left it simmering away for about an hour with the lid on.   This morning I pureed it in batches and put a small amount into a small pot to heat up for lunch.  I sipped on a cup of hot water mixed with the juice of half a lemon while I did that and then got carried away with clearing off and cleaning down the windowsill in the kitchen.  Something I don't think I've done for about three years.

There was a piece of wool lying there that I had knit and felted and never gotten around to making anything out of - I had left it lying there in the sun to dry as it was fairly thick, I think.  That was what started me cleaning actually as I noticed a moth not far from it and when I moved it slightly there was a lot of what looks like dust and is mostly moth eggs and then when I turned it over there were pupae and larva, too.  Nothing moving at least so it all went straight into the bin and then I cleared off the long-neglected plants and washed down the windowsill very well.  I also dumped the rest of the little bits and pieces that always seem to accumulate on spare surfaces and threw out the used soapnuts that were in a container.  I've been saving the soapnuts I use for washing once they're used up as I read that even when they seem to be spent, you can boil them up and use that liquid for cleaning, too.  The first time I tried to save my used ones I put them in a sealed container and obviously they weren't quite dry when I did because they eventually got mouldy.  So then I started keeping them in an open container.  But I've never gotten around to doing anything with them and if they must have been at least as dusty as the windowsill was, which is probably not really what you want from your cleaning products, so out they went.  I hate to just throw stuff out but I need to be a bit ruthless at this stage.  I can already feel the difference this relatively simple task has made to the place - every time I walk into the kitchen it feels so much nicer (the windowsill is directly opposite the door, so it's the first thing you see when you walk in).

I've just spent an hour and a half on the phone to one of my sisters so I'm a bit behind now.  Things I'd still like to get done today: (edited with updates in brackets at around ten o'clock)

1. Sweep and clean floors
2. Give bathroom quick going over
3. Iron and put away everything that's been washed this week (have done trousers and a shirt for work tomorrow but that's it)
4. Make more soup (I bought loads of carrots on purpose so that I could try my hand at carrot and ginger soup, still have half a head of cabbage to use up and a pile of chard that has been slowly wilting on the countertop since yesterday) (done - just need to puree the last batch but it's just finished cooking so I'll leave it till tomorrow because I can't face another round of washing-up this evening)
5. Wash lettuce to have salad ready for lunch tomorrow and Tuesday (done)

Not a huge list but quite a lot to do all the same.  So far I've only had one bowl of soup but I didn't plan on spending a long time on the phone today so now I'm kind of hungry again.  I'm having an apple and will go and make carrot soup when I've finished and then eat some of that.   Going to make myself a cup of detox tea, too.  I had some yesterday and while it might not become my favourite it's quite nice to drink and at least it's warming.  It's cold here again today.  Where did spring go?