Roasted Asparagus and Cauliflower Soup

First recipe post of 2014 is a detox post--go figure. I, along with probably the majority of the world's population, made some sort of resolution, promise, or goal for the new year. I usually skip this tradition and just opt for making goals throughout the year. However, this holiday season (and last six months) have been especially fun and crazy busy. And, unless you are superman or woman, usually that means less time for eating well and exercising. In my case, that can be translated to occasionally eating a vegetable in the form of a potato and casually neglecting my gym membership for months at a time. Go me!

To get back on track, I've decided to try this Wellness Diet. Essentially the first two weeks are eliminating all things tasty--gluten, soy, processed foods, added sugar, diary, eggs, corn, peanuts, alcohol, and caffeine. Shoot me now. Supposedly this makes you healthier, but I can only imagine it making me grumpier. To help me focus on not starving and ignore my cravings for ice cream, bread, and margaritas, I've decided to blog about the detox recipes I make. So here we are: my first detox recipe. And this recipe gets it's first post treatment because it is also called Negative Calorie Soup. Yeaup; the bulk of the ingredients in this recipe are negative calorie foods. This means that the energy it takes to digest the food is more than the calories (energy) that the food contains; thus, you are eating and losing weight all at the same time. Sounds phenom to me. Added bonus: this soup is very easy to make and actually super delicious. You just have to get past the way it looks (green, pureed gloop doesn't look good on anyone).

So anyone who made a resolution to eat better, loose weight, or torture themselves with starvation and cravings of their favorite foods, definitely give this recipe a try. I might even consider making it after this detox is over!

Roasted Asparagus and Cauliflower Soup (adapted from Domestic Fits)

(6-8 cups)

2 lbs cauliflower, chopped into florets
1-2 lbs fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into pieces
4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
pinch of cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lay cauliflower and asparagus pieces on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with half of the salt, pepper, onion powder, and Italian seasoning. Roast the vegetables for about 20 minutes, or until the asparagus is tender and cauliflower has browned.

In a large pot, add the vegetable broth, roasted cauliflower and asparagus, remaining pepper, salt, onion powder, and Italian seasoning, minced garlic, and cayenne pepper. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove the mixture from the heat. Using an immersion blender, puree all of the ingredients together. Taste, and add more seasonings if necessary.

*Update: I've made this soup a few more times since this post went live, and have tried a few variations I want to share. Consider roasting the vegetables for 35-40 minutes to get even more intensified flavors and some serious color on the cauliflower. Also, to avoid looking like you are eating baby food, only puree half of the soup; this will thicken the soup, while still leaving some vegetables whole. It's never gonna be the prettiest soup, but at least it is negative calories!

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Nutritional Info
Servings Per Recipe: 8 cups

Amount Per Serving:

Calories: 34.9
Total Fat: 0.2 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 383.0 mg
Total Carbs: 7.1 g
Fiber: 3.1 g
Sugars: 1.0 g
Protein: 2.3 g