Cauliflower, Cabbage, and Cumin Soup

Do you want to eat more cruciferous vegetables and add low calorie soups to your diet? So do I-

This low calorie and delicious easy to make soup will fill you up while helping you lose weight!

The first time I made this soup, it was a cold Halloween night. I wanted to make a fast and easy seasonal soup to keep us warm before venturing out with the kids on the damp windy night.

For some reason, despite it being 75 degrees the day before, we experienced another cold Halloween. It was only 44 chilly degrees for the little ones to do their trick or treating.

It's always been my custom to make soup for dinner on Halloween.
I feel a big bowl of piping hot soup hits the spot before venturing out in the cold.

My soup this year, was created from vegetables that I received from my organic CSA:
Chinese cabbage, cauliflower, onion and fresh dill for the garnish. I blended in some white beans to give the soup some heartiness and at the same time make it creamy.

My good friend and fabulous cook , Laura, who co-authored Food No Matter What!  was visiting while I was making this soup. At her suggestion, I seasoned the soup with lots of cracked pepper, a little turmeric, and cumin. ( lots of nutrition and antioxidants there)

Freshly cracked black pepper and aromatic ground cumin really bring out the flavor of this otherwise bland soup, making it taste slightly spicy. As Laura reminded me, black pepper optimizes the absorption of the nutrients from the turmeric- so always use black pepper when using turmeric. 

My intention was to make a low calorie soup. ( I'm trying to lose weight again)
.

So I decided to sautee my onions in vegetable broth instead of oil and cooked the vegetables in a water right in the soup. If you are not concerned about the calories, sautee your onions in some tasty olive oil.

Cabbage and cauliflower are fall vegetables that create a mild flavorful soup full of antioxidants. Adding salt, cracked black pepper, turmeric, ginger and cumin really perks up the soup, making it robust without adding extra calories. 

Low in calories; high in nutrients
I'm estimating that a bowl of this creamy vegan and naturally gluten free soup is about 100 calories , very low in fat,  provides a good amount of fiber, some protein, and a significant amount of nutrients and antioxidants.  It's perfect for my weight loss and my health concerns!

I love making naturally gluten free recipes from healthy real food.
I had a bowl again today for lunch and really enjoyed it! I hope you like it too-

Author: Judee Algazi

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Blend time: 2 minutes
Serves: 6-8

Ingredients; 

4 cups Chinese Cabbage, chopped ( any kind of cabbage will work)
4 cups fresh cauliflower, broken into small flowerettes
1 large organic onion, sliced in half moons
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 tsp of ground ginger
10 cups of water ( or enough to just cover the vegetables)
5 cups flavorful vegetable broth + 1/4 cup for sautéing
Freshly cracked black pepper
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 Tablespoon cumin
1 cup and half of white beans, drained
Himalayan Salt to taste
Optional: Garnish with chopped dill, or chopped parsley

Directions

In a large soup pot, sautee the onion slices in 1/4 of vegetable broth until translucent. Add the cabbage, cauliflower, garlic, water and ground ginger. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer cook until the cauliflower is tender. Add the cracked pepper, turmeric and cumin and beans. Using an immersion blender, blend until creamy.

MY NOTES
** I prefer to add my beans and blend my beans into my soup just before eating it so I can measure how many beans I am eating calorie-wise. I take 2 cups of the soup and place it in a small soup bowl. I then add 1/4 cup of the white beans and blend. The beans are the most fattening ( yet healthy) part  of the soup-I want to make sure I only eat 1/4 cup-

** I love fresh dill and received lots of it at my CSA. I smothered the soup with it.

I adore dill - so I loaded it as a garnish

Linked on : My Blog Carnival List and Souper Sunday at Kahakai Kitchen and Vegan Fridays