Soups! Roasted Cauliflower-Fennel Soup & Creamy Asparagus Soup

It's that time of year again! Time for easy vegetable soups for dinner to help us wake up fresh and with beautiful tongues (and bowel movements too!). I recently discovered The AGNI Blog, and Nadia posted about her love of soups for dinner, and I couldn't agree more. The pureed vegetable soup is a regular in my kitchen because it's delicious, easy and fast. I made these both for guests and they loved them. I love making soups even more now that I learned this GREAT trick for using hot liquids in the blender (see picture below). You obviously still need to be extra careful because it's hot, but the lid won't pop off if you take the center of lid out and cover the hole with a towel instead. Yay! No waiting for things to cool or having to do tiny batches, YES! So enjoy your soups and the great feelings that follow!
*If you're wanting 7 or 10 days of guidance to feeling AWESOME then join one of the group cleanses I'm offering (see the left side bar) or email me so we can plan one around your schedule. I'm soon to start my own and cannot wait! :)

from the Williams Sonoma blog

CREAMY ASPARAGUS SOUP

This soup is a simplified variation on "Springtime Asparagus Soup" from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. We ate it with a shredded carrot salad (carrot + raisins + EVOO + cumin + salt + parsley). -and a little white wine...shhhhh.

Serves 4.

one bunch of asparagus (ours was just under 1 lb)

2 t ghee
1 small leek, white part chopped plus an inch of the green

1/2 a white or yellow onion, chopped
1 T white raw rice

4 c vegetable stock (or water if you don't have stock)
chopped parsley or grated parmesan cheese to garnish

Chop the tough ends off the asparagus and save for stock making at another time. Then cut the remaining asparagus in 1-2 inch pieces. Set aside. In a medium soup pot, melt ghee and add leek, onion and rice. Sautee until onions start to get some color. Then add asparagus and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes or until asparagus is tender. Allow to cool just a bit then pour or scoop soup into blender and make smooth. Warm to desirable temperature, add more stock or water if needed to thin out if desired, and season with salt and pepper as needed. Serve in bowls with parsley or parmesan cheese on top.

• VPK: Great for all doshas! P & K stick to parsley, not cheese. 

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER-FENNEL SOUP
When I went wild at the farmer's market last weekend, I picked up a head of cauliflower and a bulb of fennel amongst other things and thought they'd be great together in a soup, and they were. This soup really couldn't be easier. I served this soup with some heavily spiced (cumin, coriander, fennel, turmeric) sauteed kale. My sister had the great idea to plop her kale in her soup, which was delicious. Enjoy!

Serves 4 as a main.

one head of cauliflower, leaves removed and chopped into slightly larger than bite size pieces. 
one bulb of fennel, chopped up to start of fronds (about 1/4 of total fennel will be green)
olive oil
salt
pepper
vegetable stock or water

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Chop cauliflower and fennel and place in medium roasting pan. Toss in olive oil, salt and pepper. Cover with foil and roast for 20 minutes then remove foil, toss and roast for another 15 minutes. Once done, remove the pan from the oven and scoop the cauliflower and fennel into your blender. Cover vegetables with stock or water then blend until smooth. Pour contents of blender into a pot on the stove and heat gently. Add salt or pepper to taste if needed. Serve in bowls with a sprinkle of chopped parsley.

• P and K : Great! Even better for both to use minimal oil or just steam cauliflower.
• V: Very good. 

My Cauliflower & Fennel Soup (it's not really as orange as it looks in the photo)