Vegetarian Cabbage Soup

An easy and clean vegetarian cabbage soup recipe made with fresh cabbage, tomatoes, mixed vegetable medley, oregano, and vegetable broth. This cabbage soup is one of the best diet soup ever because cabbage makes it filling and added array of vegetable has so much flavor that it does not feel like a lite diet soup. Plus Im full for a long time after enjoying a bowl of this chunky soup... Staying full longer means no mid-time food cravings and hence, a great weight loss!Cabbage soup is also oil-free since I only use oil spray to saute the onions. Mostly I cook ingredients in filtered water and add good dose of garlic/herbs/veggies/tomatoes to compensate for the flavor.. Or I use non-fat vegetable stock. After all, a diet soup does not have to boring or just a bowl of boiled vegetables. Dont you think? Flavor is must! Honestly, cabbage has lot of flavor on its own. It also gives crunch and texture to the soup which never lets me feel need of starch/carbs missing in the soup. I often buy cabbage is grocery every two week and use it in stir-fries or soups towards end of the week. Cabbage is such veggie which stays fresh far longer than a lot other veggies... still it is just considered a coleslaw ingredient only. Where I can tell you that it tastes delicious in stir-fries, soups, and can taste great when prepared correctly.When I first came across Cabbage soup.. I was not water that it is so famous for healthy detox or weight loss diet plan. We were visiting a friend in Boston and it was cold winter day. Since we payed a surprise visit to our friends home... she made a quick soup for use in just 20 minutes. We were impressed by the flavor and texture of soup... Specially surprisingly my not-so-veggie husband enjoyed a big bowl without saying a world. Oh, and after we finished soup... we even removed jackets and sat on couch without blanket like it was a summer day in California. Soup warmed us from inside.Do you believe when we are thinking about something... it starts appearing everywhere? That trip, while flying back I came across a health magazine which talked about benefits of cabbage soup diet in detail. Already impressed with the idea, I came home and made a couple of batches of cabbage soup that winter. No, not for dieting but just because I love the flavor of this soup and being health-clean-diet lover.. adore that fact that it is such a clean and humble yet mighty soup. Plus it is so easy and fast to prepare.. I dont mind cooking it whenever!I think everyone should have a few recipes in their repertoire for healthy body detox. Once in a while, we love giving our body a break from all sorts of harsh chemicals and complex carbs and follow a few weeks of clean diet plan. On all such occasions, cabbage soup is always on my menu. Cabbage Soup Diet:This cabbage soup recipe yields 8 cups of soup which is good for 4 of 2 cup servings. Our diet plan is mostly: cabbage soup, broccoli detox salad, low-sugar and low-carb whole fruits, and vegetable juice. On diet plan, we avoid carbs or starch fruits like banana, sweets, cakes, dairy and mostly eat soup, salad , fresh fruits and veggie juices.I believe in motto that diet-plan should not be hard to follow.. If a diet regime is hard to follow or need charts... your brain will give up in few days. Instead, we have a simple *detox diet plan:1) Start day with glass of veggie juice - no sugar and no carb.2) Eat two filling yet low-sugar fruit for lunch and/or a homemade protein bar.3) Treat yourself with a cup of herbal tea in evening. 4) End day with bowl of warm cabbage soup with fresh pinch of black pepper.*Dont overeat but dont deprive yourself of food either. Wherever possible use fresh and organic ingredients. PS: Im not a dietitian. These recipes/diet-plan are my personal experience. I always recommend making diet-plans based on your body needs and consult a doctor for best results.Cabbage Soup Ingredients:This cabbage soup has all clean, organic, and simple ingredients. I mostly use fresh diced tomatoes and little bit of organic tomato paste to compensate for the flavor. If you cant find fresh ripe red tomatoes it is okay to use canned. Try to buy organic, no-sodium and no-fat crushed tomatoes. Please note that color of soup varies based on the tomatoes. Like canned tomato will yield a more deep-red color than fresh tomatoes. This batch of cabbage soup has more color of veggies and cabbage than tomatoes since I used fresh diced tomato.I like to keep cabbage soup vegetarian so we can eat it even when we are not eating meat. (Im sure you are familiar with our on/off meatless diet days). However, you can add some homemade chicken stock to make it more nutritious. Im not sure if you planning a cabbage diet or not... but this easy soup makes great meal for meatless Monday. If you have a cabbage hidden in some corner of refrigerator shelf? Dig it out and serve a delicious low-cal soup for dinner under 25 minutes! I will see you soon again! ~Savita x