BEAUTIFUL Soup, so rich and green, Waiting in a hot tureen! Who for such dainties would not stoop? Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup! Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Soup - ahh....soup. Comforting, warming, nurturing, soup. The perfect meal that brings out our inner, creative cook, uses leftovers, heats up a cold kitchen and encourages us to simmer, savor and sip, with a book, a friend or your family.
Food historians tell us that soup is probably as old as the history of cooking. For every point on the globe, there is a soup born from local ingredients, legends and tastes. The act of combining various foods in a large pot to create a nutritious, filling, easily-digested, and simple to make food has brought people together for centuries, so here's to continuing the tradition!
Health Benefits of Soup:
Soup fills you up. Eating low-calorie soup before a meal can help cut back on how much food and calories you eat at the meal, according to a Penn State study. The study showed that when people ate soup before their main meal, they ate about 20 percent less, compared to when they did not eat soup. The trick is to eat lower calorie soups, as opposed to heavy cream soups, but filling up with a soup that's loaded with high fiber vegetables is certain to help you eat less of what ever food follows the soup course. Soup hydrates you - because there's a lot of liquid in soup - especially clear broth-based soups. Staying well hydrated is especially important for those living in northern climates where winter weather and indoor heating can be very dehydrating on our bodies. Soup is comforting and nurturing, for your body and soul. Babies' first foods, after milk, are usually soup-like cereals and vegetable and fruit purees, all of which are easy to eat and digest. It's no coincidence that eating soup brings us feelings of comfort as it helps us return to our early years when we were held and fed and comforted. Soup is economical - the perfect place to use leftovers. There's not much that you can't throw into a pot of soup! Start with a chicken, beef or vegetable broth, and begin building a soup with leftover cooked vegetables, meats, fresh greens, grains such as rice or barley, or leftover pasta. You can blend a soup to create a creamy texture, thicken a soup by adding mashed cooked potatoes or beans or soak up a soup by adding croutons or thickly toasted bread. Eating soup is an easy way to add vegetables to your meals. Adding chopped greens like collards, escarole, spinach or kale at the end of cooking boosts your soup's vitamin, calcium and antioxidant content. · Soup freezes well, so you can make a lot and eat some later. It's great to have on hand at the end of a busy day when you don't have time to cook but want a substantial meal. Soup may even save your life!! By now, you've most probably heard the newly released Consumer Reports study about Bisphenol A (BPA), a dangerous chemical found in plastics, food packaging and many canned foods. BPA has been linked to heart disease, diabetes, breast and prostate cancers, and reproductive abnormalities. In its December issue, Consumer Reports tested 19 name-brand canned foods, including soups, juice, tuna, and green beans. They found that almost all of these contained BPA, including some that were labeled "BPA-free." Making your own soups is easy, economical and the perfect opportunity to boost the nutritional intake in your diet. Always make extra so that you can pack in a thermos for lunch or eat again tomorrow because soup ALWAYS tastes better the next day!
Here's a great recipe to try:
Cream-less Cauliflower Soup
A secret revealed! The oatmeal in this soup gives it a creamy velvet texture - without cream.
Ridiculously easy, additively delicious.
Ingredients:
1 whole head of cauliflower, cut or broken into florets
1 medium onion, cut into 8-10 pieces
3-4 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup uncooked oatmeal (if you have leftover oatmeal, use 1/3 cup cooked)
4-5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
Optional: 2-3 diced carrots and/or a half cup diced winter squash - if you have leftover cooked carrots and squash, add for final 5 minutes of cooking time)
Salt and pepper to taste
Freshly ground nutmeg for garnish
Add stock, garlic, carrots or squash, oatmeal and cauliflower to large soup pot and cover. Cook 15-20 minutes, until all vegetables are tender. Let cool about 10 minutes, and then puree in batches, adding salt and pepper to taste, in a blender or food processor, until smooth and creamy. Serve right away, or return to pot to reheat. Serve with freshly ground nutmeg.
You can use the oatmeal-instead-of-cream trick for many cream soup variations, such as:
Broccoli soup - garnished with lemon zest
Squash or pumpkin soup seasoned with cumin, cinnamon and a little cayenne. Enjoy!
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