|
26
Apr
|
The Healthiest Creamiest Soup You’ll Ever Make |
There are some things that as a cook and a blogger, I just find nearly impossible. One is taking a decent picture of a bowl of soup. If you bother to search through all of my blog posts tagged “soup”, you’ll see what I mean. I’m over being ashamed of this because I certainly don’t want to miss sharing my soups with you due to crappy pictures. Another really difficult task is making anything creamy, like a pasta sauce or soup, healthier and low-fat and have it come out anywhere near as good as the full-fat counterpart loaded with real heavy cream and sometimes butter and flour too. But that obstacle has been hurdled. First it was with my Amazingly Creamy Pumpkin Penne (another “please excuse the bad picture” – I will need to remember to update it next time I make that!) And now, I’ve applied the same technique to make a pretty fantastic soup, if you don’t mind my bragging. Compared to using other dairy products like fat free half and half, evaporated nonfat milk, or just plain old milk in place of cream, the cottage cheese method produces a much thicker and creamier soup that you really could mistake for the real thing. The cottage cheese is fairly mild in flavor so the soup is heartily flavored by the asparagus, garlic and seasonings used here. As an added bonus, cottage cheese packs a nice amount of protein and calcium, both very important nutrients, especially for us women. I dare you to try this on your husbands who swear they don’t like cottage cheese – and even yourself if you think you don’t like it!
Ridiculously Healthy Creamy Asparagus Soup
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1-lb bunch fresh asparagus*
freshly ground salt & pepper
1 tsp Penzey’s Greek seasoning**
2 cups chicken broth
6oz low fat cottage cheese
1/4 cup nonfat milk
Break off the tough ends of the asparagus and discard. Wash asparagus and chop into small pieces, about 1/4-1/2″ in length. Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for about 7 minutes, until softened and translucent. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Add asparagus, salt & pepper, and seasoning and stir to combine. Add chicken broth; this should be enough to just cover the vegetables in the pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 10-15 minutes until vegetables are tender.
Blend together the cottage cheese and milk in a blender or in a separate container using an immersion blender, until completely smooth. Set aside.
Remove the soup from heat and process until smooth, either using an immersion blender or by transferring to a food processor or blender. Return to medium-low heat and gently stir in cottage cheese mixture. Bring to a boil, and cook for 1-2 minutes to let it fully thicken.
* Will yield about 3/4lb after trimming; this is the amount used to calculate the nutritional information.
** Contains coarse salt, garlic, lemon, black pepper, Turkish oregano, marjoram. So if you don’t have the blend, I’d just recommend using some of those. The lemon gives a bright tang to the soup and the oregano gives and earthy tone.
Servings Per Recipe: 2
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 158.8
Total Fat: 4.2 g
Cholesterol: 11.9 mg
Sodium: 882.8 mg
Total Carbs: 18.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 4.1 g
Protein: 15.4 g
I'm Cara, lover of creative, clean food and healthy living. Pumpkin, goat cheese, and eggplant make me swoon. I have an insatiable sweet tooth and desire to lift heavy things. 
Joelen — April 27, 2009 @ 4:41 pm
I rarely buy cottage cheese but you’ve given me a good reason to since this soup looks wonderful!
brannyboilsover — April 27, 2009 @ 5:18 pm
I love asparagus. This looks great. And your last picture is too cute!
Kerstin — April 27, 2009 @ 6:03 pm
What a great idea to add cottage cheese to a soup – I love it! I wish I would have read this yesterday before I put cream into a soup I made! My hubby is really into weightlifting, so we always have cottage cheese around.
Mary Ellen — April 28, 2009 @ 1:20 am
This looks great- and what’s better than a healthy creamy soup!!
Kevin — April 28, 2009 @ 1:58 am
Using cottage cheese in a cream of ___ soup is a great idea! I am always looking for new ways to use cottage cheese. I am going to have to try this.
ShoeFanatic614 — April 28, 2009 @ 3:08 pm
I made this last night and it was soooo good! And so easy!Two thumbs way up!
Melissa — April 29, 2009 @ 2:04 pm
I’m trying to get the hubby to like asparagus, and trying to get myself to like cottage cheese – this is a perfect recipe for me to try.
Cuteshorn — April 29, 2009 @ 7:31 pm
hey nice placemats!
Kalyn — May 2, 2009 @ 1:14 pm
This sounds great, and I have Penzey’s Greek seasoning too!
madebymel — May 6, 2009 @ 12:28 pm
I recently made this and it was delicious! Thank you!
Dawn — July 31, 2009 @ 6:15 pm
I made this yesterday and it was delicious. Thanks for the great recipe. It's a keeper!
alexquick — October 31, 2009 @ 11:27 pm
So I tried this recipe yesterday. My blender fell apart and i lost all my asparagus, so going with what i had i whipped up some carrots and made it into a creamy carrot soup. it was great.great idea with the cottage cheese.
Raymi — March 26, 2010 @ 5:38 am
Loved it!! and so did family and friends. Added a lttle more black pepper and garlic so it had a kick to it. Loved the cottage cheese idea. Thanks so much for the receipe.
Raymi — March 28, 2011 @ 8:53 pm
Loved it!! and so did family and friends. Added a lttle more black pepper and garlic so it had a kick to it. Loved the cottage cheese idea. Thanks so much for the receipe.
Dawn — March 28, 2011 @ 8:53 pm
I made this yesterday and it was delicious. Thanks for the great recipe. It's a keeper!
madebymel — March 28, 2011 @ 8:53 pm
I recently made this and it was delicious! Thank you!
Kalyn — March 28, 2011 @ 8:53 pm
This sounds great, and I have Penzey's Greek seasoning too!
Cuteshorn — March 28, 2011 @ 8:53 pm
hey nice placemats!
ShoeFanatic614 — March 28, 2011 @ 8:53 pm
I made this last night and it was soooo good! And so easy!Two thumbs way up!
alexquick — March 28, 2011 @ 8:53 pm
So I tried this recipe yesterday. My blender fell apart and i lost all my asparagus, so going with what i had i whipped up some carrots and made it into a creamy carrot soup. it was great.great idea with the cottage cheese.
Kevin — March 28, 2011 @ 8:53 pm
Using cottage cheese in a cream of ___ soup is a great idea! I am always looking for new ways to use cottage cheese. I am going to have to try this.
Mary Ellen — March 28, 2011 @ 8:53 pm
This looks great- and what's better than a healthy creamy soup!!
Melissa — March 28, 2011 @ 8:53 pm
I'm trying to get the hubby to like asparagus, and trying to get myself to like cottage cheese – this is a perfect recipe for me to try.
Kerstin — March 28, 2011 @ 8:53 pm
What a great idea to add cottage cheese to a soup – I love it! I wish I would have read this yesterday before I put cream into a soup I made! My hubby is really into weightlifting, so we always have cottage cheese around.
brannyboilsover — March 28, 2011 @ 8:54 pm
I love asparagus. This looks great. And your last picture is too cute!
Joelen — March 28, 2011 @ 8:54 pm
I rarely buy cottage cheese but you've given me a good reason to since this soup looks wonderful!
Melissa — March 29, 2011 @ 2:06 am
I'm trying to get the hubby to like asparagus, and trying to get myself to like cottage cheese – this is a perfect recipe for me to try.
Joelen — April 5, 2011 @ 1:21 am
I rarely buy cottage cheese but you've given me a good reason to since this soup looks wonderful!
alexquick — April 5, 2011 @ 1:21 am
So I tried this recipe yesterday. My blender fell apart and i lost all my asparagus, so going with what i had i whipped up some carrots and made it into a creamy carrot soup. it was great.great idea with the cottage cheese.
Cuteshorn — April 5, 2011 @ 1:21 am
hey nice placemats!
Mommy — June 10, 2011 @ 2:12 am
Just made this. OMG so good.Â
Cara — June 10, 2011 @ 2:21 am
Glad you liked it! Thanks for stopping by 🙂