Dr. Fuhrman’s Famous Anti-Cancer Soup

I’m not going to sugar-coat it, this soup is time and labor intensive. It’s pretty good; my husband likes it. And it makes a lot, so that’s a redeeming quality. But it really takes a lot of work. Here’s what you’re going to need:

• a HUGE pot, 12 qts or so
• a good blender, food processor or Vita-Mix
• a juicer is optional; the recipe calls for fresh carrot and celery juice, but you can buy carrot juice if you don’t have a juicer
• about 4 hours. I’m not kidding. Well, that may be an exaggeration, but at least a couple of hours.

The recipe comes from Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, but I modified it ever so slightly. Here are the ingredients I used:

• 4 c water
• 1 c dried split peas
• 4 medium onions
• 6 zucchini
• 3 leeks
• 5 lbs carrots (or about 1 qt fresh carrot juice)
• 2 bunches celery (can also be replaced by the carrot juice)
• 1 c raw cashews
• 2 tbsp McKay’s Chicken-Style Seasoning
• 1 c TVP (textured vegetable protein)

Place the split peas and water in a large pot and start cooking them, covered, on low heat. Peel and cut the onions in half and place them in the pot. Add the zucchini, cut into large chunks. Cut the roots off the leeks and slice them up the side to clean between each leaf. Cut these into large pieces and place them in the pot as well. Juice the carrots and celery and add the juice to the pot. Simmer until vegetables are soft. Next, use tongs to move the vegetables to a blender or food processor and in a few batches, blend them all up with some of the soup liquid. Return the blended vegetables to the pot. Then blend the cashews up with some of the soup liquid, until they are very smooth and creamy, and pour them into the pot. Add the McKay’s and the TVP and simmer another 20 minutes or so.

You may want to season with a little salt, garlic powder or fresh garlic, black pepper or cayenne. However, I noticed the flavors had blended and intensified without those extra seasonings.