Soups - 5 Ways to Make Any Soup Recipe Healthier

By Neema Malik

Soups are one healthy preparation that is made and enjoyed in every continent, from Europe to Asia and from Australia to South Africa. Only the flavour, the ingredients, the spices and the way of preparing it differs but it is basically the same everywhere; all the ingredients are cooked together to give a nutritious, filling, delicious, and in a way complete and healthy dish.

Each of us find many reasons to enjoy a bowl of soup; it take care of the solid and liquid needs of the body, can help in losing weight by making us feel full, helps in getting over fever or cold and a lot more. Whatever may be your reason to have the bowl of soup, enjoy it wholeheartedly, because here are a few tips to make any of your favourite soup healthier.

Use fresh ingredients

Many of your soup recipes will call for ingredients like canned tomatoes, ready to use vegetable broth and a lot more of those canned and preserved ingredients. But as all of us are aware; fresh is healthy, so you can always try to replace these bottled vegetables and preserved products with fresh and healthy substitute. Fresh and garden picked veggies and fruits have more antioxidants and vitamins in it and substituting these in your formula helps to make a healthier soup than your old canned version. Remember soup made from scratch is much healthier than the one made from bottled, canned and preserved ingredients.

Swap cream with milk

Your rich and creamy soup calls for the addition of fresh cream that not just makes your soup tastier but sadly put in a lot of calorie with it. If you prefer a healthier low calorie version of the soup, swap your cream with milk which just adds about 20 percent of the calorie coming from cream but gives you the same great taste.

Blot the fat

Many number of soup are butter based or have ample amount of fat in it, to remove the calories from the fat, you can skim off the fat from the soup after it is prepared. There are different ways of skimming off fat from soup; you can either refrigerate your soup for three hours and remove the top fat layer which will get solidified, or you could drop in some lettuce leaves to absorb the fat and take out the leaves after a short time. Blotting the fat with a piece of bread can also do the magic of making your soup healthy and fat free.

Use more of herbs and spices

An extra bit of herbs in your soup can help it to get a flavour zest and to increase the healing and antioxidant property of your soup. Coriander leaves, ginger, garlic or other spices like pepper can improve the taste and flavour of the soup and all at once, make it healthier. But don't overdo the spices and herbs as using more than the perfect amount can spoil the flavour of your soup making it spicier than you really prefer.

Make your soup a complete meal

You can include shredded chicken breast pieces, beaten egg or cooked chick peas in your soup preparation to make it a whole meal and to introduce more of protein into it. Balancing the amount of protein and the carb in your soup can help the 'One Bowl of Soup' to fill your stomach, refill your soul and to fulfill your diet requirements.

So here you are with a few more reason to enjoy a steaming bowl of healthy soup.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Neema_Malik

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5739278

Quick, Easy, And Tasty Soups: Roasted Chicken, Cream Of Spinach, Meatball Vegetable Stew

By Linda Carol Wilson

I am a soup person year-round but I know some people prefer soups in the Fall and Winter. Even though it doesn't feel like Fall here in North Texas with our 40 straight days of triple-digit temperatures, I know many of you will soon be having cool weather. In honor of your cooler weather and what we hope we will see eventually, this article is all about soup. Whether you like it to be brothy, creamy, or thick (stew), we are sure to have a recipe here to please you.

ROASTED CHICKEN SOUP
2 cups roasted chicken, shredded or diced (Can buy chicken in deli)
2 tsp olive oil
2 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
8 cups chicken broth
1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
3/4 cup curly noodles

Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until they begin to brown, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to medium. Cook until the onions are tender and caramelized, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat.

In a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat, heat the broth, pepper, carrots, and celery to a boil. Stir the noodles and chicken into the broth. Reduce heat to medium and cook for about 10 minutes until the pasta is tender. Stir in the onions; soup is ready to serve.

QUICK AND EASY CREAM OF SPINACH SOUP
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
dash of ground nutmeg
4 1/4 cups milk
1 pkg (10-oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and water squeezed out

In a large saucepan melt the butter; add the chopped onion. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until the onion is tender. Stir in the flour, mixing well to avoid lumps. Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Gradually blend in the milk while stirring. Continue to cook, stirring, for about a minute or two until thickened. Stir in the spinach and remove from the heat.

MEATBALL VEGETABLE STEW
If you love beef stew but don't really have the time to cook the beef and make the stew, try this recipe that uses meatballs.

4 cups water
2 medium russet potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 medium carrots, cut into 3/4-inch slices
1 large onion, cut into chunks
2 tbsp beef bouillon granules
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 medium zucchini, cut into 3/4-inch slices
1 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup cold water
1/4 tsp browning sauce, optional

In a large Dutch oven, bring the water to a boil. Add the russet potatoes, carrots, onion, bouillon, bay leaf, thyme, basil, salt and pepper. Return to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

While the above simmers, combine the ground beef, bread crumbs, egg, and Worcestershire sauce. Shape into 1-inch balls. Add meatballs to the Dutch oven along with the sweet potatoes and zucchini. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for another 15 minutes or until veggies are tender.

Discard the bay leaf. Stir in the peas. Combine the flour and cold water; stir into the stew along with the browning sauce, if using. Bring to a boil and cook and stir for a couple of minutes until thickened.

Yield: 6 servings.

For more of Linda's quick and easy recipes visit her blog at http://grandmasquickfixrecipes.blogspot.com She also has a large collection of old fashion recipes at http://grandmasvintagerecipes.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Linda_Carol_Wilson

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6491371

How To Make Gazpacho Soup

By Richard Allen

Some like it hot some like it cold, well actually only the idiots like it hot as Gazpacho soup should be served cold, if not slightly chilled, as it is a great refresher on a cold Summers day.

It is a very simple recipe an only takes a few minutes to prepare. The basic ingredients you will need are as follows: -

1kg of Ripe Tomatoes - Peeled, deseeded and chopped into small chunks

½ A Cucumber - Peeled, deseeded and chopped

1 Green Pepper - Peeled, deseeded and chopped

4oz of fresh bread with the crusts cut off

1 small onion - Roughly chopped

1 garlic clove - Chopped or presses in a Garlic presser

1 Tablespoon of white wine vinegar

4 fluid ounces of Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste as required

4-6 Ice cubes, ideally crushed

Basil sprigs as garnish

So now you have assembled all of the ingredients then let us begin making the soup!

Firstly hold back a few of the tomatoes, pepper and cucumber as a garnish for the soup.

Then place all of the bread in a blender, and blend until the bread is in crumbs. Then add the rest of the tomatoes, cucumber and pepper. Blend until smooth, then add the onion, garlic, olive oil and again blend until very smooth.

The tomatoes should give the soup enough juice to make the soup into a nice liquid, but you can also add water if the soup is too thick. Often if it is too thick then it down to adding too much bread into the mix. Trial and error is the key to getting it right! Then season with salt and pepper as required.

To serve the dish (Which really is best served very cold, and not hot as a few famous celebrities have sent it back to the kitchen to be heated for!) divided into four serving bowls, add the crushed ice cubes to soup and still them well in.

Then place in the fridge for 30 minutes or ideally an hour. Then when it comes to serving the gazpacho soup lightly garnish with the tomatoes, pepper and cucumber that you held back. Lightly scatter a few basil leaves on top and then serve with some fresh crusty bread (French baguettes are ideal).

So there you have it the ideal recipe for gazpacho soup. This recipe takes just minutes to prepare and is a great appetizer on a hot Summers day.

For more great recipes and advice on How To Grow Tomatoes for gazpacho soup, then find out more about How To Grow Vegetables today.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_Allen

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6454493

How to Make An Easy Cream of Potato Soup

By Dee Power

Why use a mix when it's easy to make fresh, tasty potato soup yourself? The salty bacon compliments the sweetness of the sauteed onions. Wrap it up all together with a little heavy cream and lots of potatoes. The trick is to mash some of the potatoes and leave some in chunks. Decrease the fat by substituting turkey bacon for regular bacon and skim milk for the cream. Because you're browning the onions in the bacon fat the soup will not be pure white but take on a beige color from the bacon and lots of flavor.

Cut three slices of low sodium bacon into one inch slices. Fry until the bacon browns. If you're on a low fat diet, drain the fat. Or use turkey bacon instead. Chop one medium onion into 1/2 inch cubes. Chop two slices of celery into 1/2 inch cubes. Sautee the veggies over medium heat until they're soft. That should take, maybe five minutes. Keep an eye on them. Onion contains sugar and they'll burn quickly at too high a heat.

Add one quart of low sodium chicken broth, or 4 cubes of low/no sodium chicken bouillon cubes and four cups of water. Let the mixture simmer for 15 minutes. No, we haven't forgotten about the potatoes.

Peel three medium to large potatoes and chop into 1/2 cubes. Add the potatoes to the soup and let simmer on low heat another 10 minutes. The potatoes should be soft and easily pierced with the tip of a knife. Remove about a cup of the potatoes and mash with a fork. Add 1/2 cup to 1 cup of cream. If you're on a low fat diet add 1 cup of skim milk with 1 tablespoon of flour. Stir the flour into the milk, add the mashed potatoes and then add back to the soup.

Bring up to a boil. Turn off the heat and remove the pot from the burner. The flour will continue cooking as the soup cools.
Serve with a fresh fruit salad.

Leftovers are great the next day. If you don't have quite enough soup left, add 1- 2 cups more chicken broth, 1 cup of frozen corn, and one cup of little cooked shrimp.

It's easy to vary the potato soup by adding a few different ingredients. Add clams for clam chowder. Smoked sausage goes nicely with the potatoes. Or try chopped leeks and dill and leave out the bacon. Add chicken and peas and chopped parsley.

Make up a double batch and freeze half for another night's supper.

Dee Power is the author of several nonfiction books. Her hobbies include gardening and cooking healthy dinner recipes, and sharing her grilling tips. She lives with an Irish Setter and an English Springer Spaniel.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dee_Power

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6468513