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Fall
is a good time to make soup a staple
Sept 30, 08
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
As we ease into fall, it’s
time to make the next seasonal diet move: Soup. Make it a
mealtime staple now through winter.
Why?
Because it’s low in calories and high in water content.
It fills you up before you fill out.
Soup is also a good-tasting vehicle for vegetables and other
fiber-full ingredients. Many, if not most, varieties of soup
score well on the nutritional balance sheet. Soup tends to
be a good source of vitamins and minerals. With the exception
of cream-based soups, it’s also low in saturated fat
and cholesterol.
And it’s cheap.
The basic ingredients of soup – water, herbs, spices,
vegetables and beans – are inexpensive. Soup is even
more economical if you add leftovers – odd bits of vegetables,
rice, pasta or pasta sauce – to a pot.
Soup is also a convenient, quick meal. It requires little
stovetop supervision, and you can even make it in a slow cooker.
It’s easy to make from scratch. Follow a basic recipe
if you care to, but a little more of this ingredient or less
of that is nothing to be concerned about. Soup is forgiving.
To make soup in the simplest way possible, try these tips:
* Start with a base of broth. Make your own by simmering vegetable
scraps and seasonings in water, or take a shortcut. I like
to start with two 32-oz. shelf-stable containers of vegetable
broth (such as Trader Joe’s or Pacific Natural Foods
brand) or add low-sodium vegetable bouillon to water.
* Add to it. Dump in some split peas, lentils or dried beans
and cook until tender. The soup can be ready sooner if you
use rinsed, canned beans such as garbanzo or kidney beans.
Add frozen or fresh chopped onions, bell peppers, and celery,
minced garlic or stewed tomatoes or whatever you have on hand
that you’d like to use up.
* Season it. I like to add lots of cracked, black pepper,
basil and oregano. Leave out the artery-clogging bacon grease
and animal fats, though. Add flavor with fresh or dried herbs
and spices. Hot pepper sauce or vinegar gives soup some kick
and can compensate for less added salt.
* Add some more. For variety, add barley, rice or bits of
pasta. Kids like alphabet-shaped pasta.
The biggest drawback to soup tends to be its sodium content.
You have a lot more control when soup is homemade rather than
from a can. When you make soup from scratch, cut the sodium
level by using reduced-sodium tomatoes, rinsing canned beans,
and limiting added table salt.
You can also dilute the sodium load of soup by ensuring that
the rest of the meal is low in sodium. For example, serve
soup with crusty bread and fresh fruit salad, sliced, fresh
vegetables, or a mixed green salad tossed with vinegar and
oil.
Soup often thickens overnight. If it does, add more broth
before reheating, or serve leftover soup over cooked rice
or couscous.
Make what you need for a couple of days and freeze the rest
for another day. Take soup to school or the office for lunch
and save money on meals away from home.
I like to use 2-cup glass Pyrex bowls with tightly fitting
plastic lids for reheating in a microwave oven (I found mine
at Kohl’s). Japanese-style Bento boxes or a Thermos
are other options.
Plan to get into the soup habit this fall. It’s one
of the simplest – and most pleasant – seasonal
strategies for a healthy diet.
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