Medallion Vegetable Soup

I recently received my medallion for personal progress. For those of you who don't know what personal progress is, it is a program through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that the young woman work on. You study (through scriptures, and other resources) eight personal values. The eight values include faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity, and virtue. For each value, you study about it, apply it to your life by completing three experiences related to that value, and then complete a ten hour project. The idea is that you work on it continually from the age of 12-18. Its something good to keep young woman grounded with good values and their beliefs through their teenage years. It was really special to me and completing it helped me grow personally in my faith. At the end, you receive a recognition award and a really pretty medallion on a necklace. I wear it everyday and it honestly brings me such joy and confidence because I remember that I am a daughter of God who loves me, and I love him. So in honor of this monumental time for me, I made my favorite soup. I found the recipe in a health magazine once upon a time and I have lost it ever since. So I just tried to remember it from the top of my head and I think I got pretty close.


Ingredients

• 2 medium parsnips peeled, chopped
• 2 medium carrots peeled, chopped
• 5-6 leaves of collard greens
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 2 Tb. olive oil
• 15 oz. of black eyed peas
• 32 oz. low sodium natural vegetable broth
• 2 Tb. apple cider vinegar
• sea salt and pepper

1. In a deep soup pan, heat oil over medium heat.
2. Sauté the parsnips, carrots, onions together until all are softened (about 8 minutes)
3. Cut off the stems of the collard greens and cut up the leaves
4. Throw the greens in with the sautéed parsnips and carrots
5. Let sauté for 5 additional minutes
6. Pour in vegetable broth and vinegar
7. Stir
8. Let sit for 10 minutes
9. Stir in the black eyed peas
10. Let simmer for an additional 30-60 minutes or until beans are softened and flavors are mixed.
11. Serve warm and delicious! OH! But don't burn your tongue! That is always sad because then you can't taste anything else delicious for a week! Let's not do that because I have a lot of delicious recipes to share this week! Enjoy your soup!