For the love of creamy comfort food and eating our veggies.
This recipe is paleo, vegan, vegetarian, 50:50 keto and free of the most common allergens. Enjoy!
Be sure to stop by our “Savvy Alternates” table below to run the cost for adding or subtracting ingredients.
Creamy Asparagus & Rutabaga Soup
Equipment
- large pot, knife, peeler, cutting board, stove, trusty blender or food processor, measuring cups and spoons
Ingredients
- 1 lbs Asparagus (1 bunch)
- 2 lbs Rutabagas
- 8 oz Organic Bone Broth
- 8 oz Water
- 14 oz Coconut milk, canned (1 can, organic, full fat version)
- 4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil (2 cooking celery, 2 for finished soup)
- 3 tsp Ghee (for cooking asparagus)
- 2 tsp Crushed Rosemary
- 2 tbsp Bob's Red Mill Large Flake Nutritional Yeast
- ½ lbs Organic Celery (dirty dozen)
- ½ cup Raw Pumpkin Seeds (roasted)
- ½ cup Almond Flour
- ½ lbs Free Range Chicken Breast (Paleo optional add)
Vegan Subs
- 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil (sub out Ghee)
- 8 oz Low Sodium Vegetable Broth (sub out Bone Broth)
Instructions
- Add 2" of water to your pot and heat over medium-high. Bring to a low boil – use this to cook rutabagas.
- Wash, peel and cut rutabagas into approximately 1" cubes. Doesn't need to be pretty – you'll puree these after cooking them. Add these to your pot of slowly boiling water. Cook for about 10-15 minutes or until just soft. When finished, add the cooked rutabagas and 1 cup of the hot water from the pot to the food processor. Blend until smooth. Discard the extra water from the pot. This will be your soup pot.Add the pureed rutabaga mixture to the empty pot. Don't heat it.
While the rutabagas are cooking – prep + cook the asparagus and celery.
- Wash the asparagus, remove the stiff ends and chop the remaining stalk into 1" pieces for sauteing. SAVE THE TIPS! Set aside for a fun soup topping.
- Saute asparagus in the ghee with spices over medium heat for about 1 to 2 minutes. You may need to cover it for part of the time. Transfer the saute mixture to the food processor. Add the nutritional yeast and 8oz broth, puree until smooth. Add this to the soup pot and stir.
- Add the coconut milk, almond flour and 2 tbsp olive oil to the food processor, blend until smooth. Add this to the soup pot and stir until mixed together well.
- Wash and cut celery into 1/4" pieces. (Cut stems length-wise in half first, then slice). Saute in 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat for 3 minutes, or so. Add to the soup pot and stir.
Roasting Pumpkin Seeds
- Preheat the oven to 250°F. On a baking sheet, place raw pumpkin seeds so they don't overlap. Bake for about 5-8 minutes or until you begin to smell them. Watch them closely as they can burn easily.
Chicken (optional extra protein add)
- Cook per preferred method. I like to use our George Foreman grill for a leaner outcome. Slice into think strips and serve as an optional soup "topper".
Notes
- YES! This recipe is Paleo, Wheat & Gluten Free, lactose/dairy free, Vegan & Vegetarian.
- Shop Asparagus sales and double the amount when the price is <$1 per pound!
Nutrition
Did You Know?
Asparagus is chocked full of folate.
Just one pound of raw asparagus has about 230 µg of folate, or more than half of the daily recommended amount for a healthy adult* (400µg/day). Notably, the bioavailability from fresh foods is estimated at about 50%, meaning we absorb about half of the folate that we eat. (Genetics and our individual bodies play a big roll too).
Folate is not only critical for neural tube health and development of growing fetuses in pregnant females (who need closer to 600-800µg/day), it works alongside other vitamins (especially vitamin B12) and minerals to help them do their job like metabolize amino acids, and more…
Folate is crucial for cell differentiation (who becomes what, to do what they’re supposed to), DNA health, cellular messaging and even blood cell health. Raw foods have more folate than cooked forms because folate can be destroyed by heat.
Folate and Folic Acid are NOT interchangeable terms. Folic Acid is the “oxidized” form found in supplements and fortified foods. Folate is the reduced form found naturally occurring in tissues and foods.
*Pregnant and lactating females need more folate
For the soup, consider pureeing your asparagus raw (greener taste), or cook it on the raw-side of al-dente like us.
Savvy Alternates for everyone…
$ – SAVVY: Asparagus is on the EWG’s CLEAN-15 list for 2019! That means, from a pesticide perspective, you can buy inorganic without sweating it.
Shop sales!! The (inorganic) asparagus we buy costs between $1.11 and $2.28 per pound. Averaged, this means $1.69 per pound (costed here). The other week our neighborhood HEB (standard local grocery store) sold it for $0.98 per pound; I stocked up and knew that I’d still make an “A meal” by adding a little extra to my soup. Feel free to do the same! We’re all about extra veggies for cheap.
Here’s a table with external links for each recipe ingredient (plus a few alternate ingredient ideas). As previously mentioned, prices vary per region, season, city, store and personal preference for brand or specific type of food item.
| Asparagus | Organic Bone Broth (Costco) | Crushed Rosemary |
| Rutabaga | Organic Veggie Broth (V) (save $$ and make your own!) Read this use the water from cooking the rutabagas | Black Peppercorn |
| Organic Celery (Dirty 12) | Coconut Milk | Nutritional Yeast |
| Raw Pumpkin Seeds | Ghee | Turmeric (organic) |
| Almond Flour | Extra Virgin Olive Oil | Free Range Chicken/ Turkey/ Costco or Sam’s club $5 chicken (option) |
