Veggie soup that will warm your heart in a cold day

Hello everyone :)
As my first post here I decided to share a delicious veggie soup that I prepared for dinner tonight.
Yesterday we went for a short hike in the near mountain - Vitosha - and we gathered some nettle.

Today is really windy and cold, so I decided it was the perfect moment for a nice soup :)

So here is what you will need to prepare this:

• 300 grams of nettle (if you have spinach, you can use it to substitute the nettle)
• 4-5 medium sized carrots
• 2 small bell peppers or 1 big one
• one onion
• 5-6 cloves of garlic or 2 tbsp of garlic powder
• 1 cup washed and soaked rice
• 1 tomato
• seasonings

Recipe

• Wash and cut all veggies. Be careful while handling the nettle as it burns a little. Try to touch only the back side of the leaves (or wear gloves if your skin is sensitive)
• Put the cut onion, garlic, carrots & peppers into a pot with 1 tbsp of cooking friendly oil (coconut oli, olive oil, etc). If you like cooking without oil, this is fine as well - just add a small amount of water, so that the veggies don't burn out
• Stir and let the veggies soften for 5 minutes
• Add the nettle, the rice and 1,5 liter of water
• Bring the soup to a boil, then cook on a lower temperature for around 20-30 minutes
• Add the chopped tomato and the seasonings. I added salt, black pepper, red pepper, dried spearmint and some turmeric powder.
• Cook for 10 more minutes
• Enjoy while still hot

When you serve the soup, you can add a dash of balsamic vinegar (or apple cider vinegar) in it. I love this step, but you can skip it :)

If you are a fan of spicy foods, you can add some dried chili or any other hot sauce that you have in your house. If it is flu season, peel some more garlic cloves and enjoy them with your soup.

Let me know if you decide to try it!

Bon appetit!