Lemon is SUCH a good addition - it really does bring out the flavour and it's a simple trick that not many people know about! When poeple say 'what on earth do you do with so many lemons', I say 'um, squeeze them on EVERYTHING!'.
As you know I'm a huge fan of fennel - I braised some with white beans the other day (and lemon juice) with some garlic tops. Does your friend find garlic tops or green spring onions just as bad? I know Jamie can't eat garlic or onions, but he's fine with the green tops of any allium (including leek) which is a real relief!
Soup is such a good way to get all that nutrition in one bowl - plus, I'm lazy sometimes with cooking so love the 'chop chop chop saute simmer' kinda action that doesn't involve too many complicated steps!
Oh my gosh I remember that being such a revelation when I put lemon in a soup for the first time! Well, as you said, on anything it provides such a pop of brightness that enhances the whole dish. We have some lemon plants finally growing in a few pots from seeds we saved, so we're hoping they overwinter fine in the garage so we can finally get some fresh grown ones next year. :)
So kind of funny, I meant to put this post in the Nat Med community, but with the switch to the new plug-in to post from my blog to Hive I messed up my settings and tags. Thus the "allium-free" tag ended up most prominent and you can't change the first tag after posting. Big face palm moment there, but anyone like my sis and Jamie would appreciate it, haha. I'm not sure if she's tried the tops, but she can handle a wee bit of dried ground garlic or onion on occasion. At least we've found ways around it now when we have family meals together!
There's a reason why soup is comfort food. It's comforting to eat, but also doesn't break the energy bank to make it. Especially with the Wonderbag. I love this thing. 😜