Smoked Gouda Broccoli Soup - The Ember & Ashes Spell

Some soups are simple comfort…and some soups arrive like a mirror.

This week’s Smoked Gouda Broccoli Soup was one of those quiet mirrors —the kind that shows you the parts of yourself you’ve grown through, healed through,

and left behind in the ashes.

Smoked Gouda doesn’t just flavor the soup — it transforms it.

It turns your classic broccoli cheddar into something deeper, richer,

and touched by elemental fire.

Don’t get me wrong, broccoli cheddar will always be a favorite,

but what kind of kitchen witch would I be

if I didn’t play with the flavors just a little?

This one was perfect for my birthday week.

There’s something about birthdays — especially the ones that feel like turning points —that invite old memories to rise through the smoke.

You sit with the past a moment longer.

You feel where you’ve been.

You see where you’re heading.

And somehow a simple bowl of soup becomes a warm space to reflect, breathe, and be.

Each ingredient carried its own magic this week:

• Smoked Gouda — Fire + transformation

• Broccoli — Earth + grounding

• Carrots — Heart-brightening roots

• Onion — Layered truth

• Garlic — Protection

• Milk/Cream — Softening and comfort

Together they created a bowl that tasted like memory, healing, and quiet transition.

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Gemstone Pairing: Desert Rose — The Memory Keeper

To match the energy of this week’s soup, the gemstone pairing is Desert Rose —a stone formed by pressure, wind, and time.

It knows what it means to be shaped by experience without losing your essence.

Desert Rose carries the perfect energy for a birthday threshold:

• Helps release old versions of yourself

• Softens difficult memories

• Brings clarity to emotional crossroads

• Grounds you gently while elevating intuition

• Reminds you that what feels like erosion is often reshaping

It holds both Earth and Wind energy,

anchoring you in the present

while letting the past drift away like sand on a breeze.

The smoky warmth of the soup + the soft, wind-sculpted calm of Desert Rose

share the same lesson:

You’ve walked through your own fire.

You’ve survived every storm.

And now you get to rise — softer, wiser, and entirely your own.