Cabbage Fennel Soup

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Making Cabbage Fennel Soup

This soup is a marriage of humble components that are often overlooked: cabbage, fennel, and brazil nuts – yes, the ones commonly left in the jar (grin). With a ton of fiber, magnesium, and antioxidants, they’re a nutrient powerhouse.

Sautéing the vegetables allows them to lightly brown and really bring out their earthy sweetness. When the stock gets added, so do the chopped brazil nuts, giving everything time to soften so that they can puree smoothly and help create this rich and luxurious texture you see.

Within 45 minutes, you’ve got yourself a bowl of creamy comfort without any cream, packed with nutrient dense vegetables, and boosted with collagen. It’s good, really good – like use a spatula to get every bit out of that blender.

If you want to keep it vegan, go ahead and leave the collagen out. Or if you’re on the other side of the spectrum and think it begs for a bacon crumble, go for it. And there are many more gluten-free soup recipes to explore!

Using Collagen in Soup

This Nutty Cabbage Fennel Soup, nearly vegan, but with an added nutrient boost from Vital Proteins grass-fed collagen. Maybe you’ve heard a little about collagen, the most abundant protein in the body that provides the infrastructure of the musculoskeletal system. {This also means we can’t get it from plants, so having a source obtained from grass-fed bovine is extremely important to me.} The peptides simply dissolve into any liquid, and is amazing for the elasticity and regeneration of our skin, hair, tendons, cartilage, and bones/joints.

I like to stir the powder into savory things, even the cooking water when I make rice or quinoa, giving my body the amazing benefits of the short-chain amino acids without changing the taste or texture. Powerful stuff, that I sometimes lack on the days that I eat mostly plants.

A Story About Me

As I was making plans for Easter, a holiday based around both faith and fiction, I got to thinking about the non-linear religious path I’ve walked. At 32, I’m still not really sure what to classify myself as. I feel grounded in believing that when we do things with the right intentions, with our morals beating through our hearts, we live better together. And that there is a God who helps guide us, and watch over us.

I grew up following the ways of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, a very strict and conservative right wing affiliation seen predominantly throughout the Midwest. Both my mother and father were raised this way, so naturally it was the path they took, I think for fear of “breaking the rules” if they choose to find their own way. That feeling of having to do as your parents have done seems to be less prevalent today, myself and many peers finding what works for them instead of following family tradition. And although many times the change comes with disagreement, it’s necessary for personal growth.

From a young age I knew it wasn’t the right fit for me, as I watched women take a back seat to any and all duties within the church, and children sitting in rooms memorizing bible verses, being judged on how many words they missed rather than the meaning.

As I got older and still couldn’t walk out of a Sunday service with any clue as to how the sermon related to real life, I knew college was the time I would leave the nest. I explored many options, from free spirit churches, to baptist, and everything in between. When I started dating someone in my mid 20’s who was as Catholic as they come, we started going to church together and I found a connection. It wasn’t necessarily for the exact beliefs, but more the fact that the church was uplifting, the messages were applicable to how I wanted to live my life, and I felt a sense of community. I went through the process of converting to Catholicism, which meant that I needed to be officially released from the WELS synod which I was baptized in – if that doesn’t give you a sense of their strict ways, I don’t know what will.

7 years and many thing have changed since then. I haven’t stayed with the Catholic Church, but I HAVE sifted out the core values and beliefs that struck a cord from all of the people, experiences, and religions I’ve come across.

I think the important thing is finding what works for you, and that might be a mixture of many religions, none at all, or the one you’ve been raised in. The label isn’t important, and judgements aren’t necessary. Faith is what you want it to be.

Similarly I don’t classify myself as one particular type of eater (paleo, vegan, pescatarian, etc.), more so that I believe in real food and having respect for what it is on my plate. I often get asked, You’re a vegetarian right?” — and to that I say, “Well, mostly plants, but also grass-fed meat raised in the right way, eggs from happy hens, and fish caught in the wild waters they swim.” I eat what makes me feel best, and what makes my mouth happy, which means isn’t perfect either. Like religion, I’ve found my own way, and I encourage you to do the same. 

More Soup Recipes:

• Easy Roasted Red Pepper & Buttercup Squash Soup
• Cozy Split Pea Soup
• Easy Stovetop Green Chili Chicken Soup

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Cabbage Fennel Soup

This fennel soup is a marriage of humble components that are often overlooked including cabbage and brazil nuts– yes, the ones commonly left in the jar (grin). With a ton of fiber, magnesium, and antioxidants, they’re a nutrient powerhouse. You could use cashews, if you prefer! Sautéing the vegetables allows them to lightly brown and really bring out their earthy sweetness.

5 from 3 votes

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Prep Time :20 minutes minutes

Cook Time :30 minutes minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Author: Amanda Paa

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
• 1 fennel bulb, about 2 ounces, fronds and core removed, then thinly sliced
• 1 shallot, diced
• 1 pound cabbage, cored and thinly shredded (with knife or mandoline)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped brazil nuts (or cashews) (2 ounces)
• 1/2 tablespoon creamy dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 1/2 to 3 cups low sodium vegetable stock
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons Vital Proteins grass-fed collagen peptides

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Instructions 

• Bring oil to medium-high heat in a large (3 1/2 quart) dutch oven. Add fennel and shallot, stirring to coat. Cook for 5 minutes, until vegetables are lightly softened.
• Add half of cabbage and salt, stirring and cooking for two minutes to wilt slightly, then add remaining tablespoon of olive oil, cabbage, and brazil nuts.
• Continue stirring occasionally and cooking over medium heat for 10 minutes. You should see light browning on the vegetables.
• Then add dijon mustard, garlic powder, and 2 1/2 cups stock. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, on medium-low heat.
• Take off heat and gently transfer half of it to a high-powered blender. Add collagen and black pepper.
• Blend for 30 seconds, then add other half. Blend for 45 seconds on high to completely puree, adding up to 1/2 cup of stock if needed to get to the texture you like. Taste, and adjust salt if needed.