Showing posts with label Vegetable. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vegetable. Show all posts

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Vegetable Soup Recipes - Nourishing and Satisfying

You do not always need meat, fish, or poultry to make soup. In fact, some of the best soups are vegetarian. Whether you are a vegetarian or simply trying to increase the amount of vegetables you eat, there is no denying that vegetables are healthy as well as very tasty, and there are lots of different herbs, spices and seasonings you can use to liven them up even more.

Thai Vegetable Soup

There are all sorts of vegetable soups you can make. You can make vegetable broth by simmering vegetables past their prime with vegetable peelings in water. Throw in some herbs and garlic and you will have a wonderful broth in a couple of hours, after you simmer the mixture and sieve it.
To make your vegetable broth into a delicious vegetable soup, you will need to add some chopped vegetables and simmer them until they are soft. Noodles, rice, potatoes, and lentils add another flavor and enough texture to make the soup satisfying and wholesome. Add these when you add the raw vegetables and they will cook together.
Vegetables Which are Good in Soup
There are lots of vegetables you can use to make soup recipes. If you are on a tight budget, just grab whatever is on special offer in the grocery store and you can make soup from it. Even if you only have vegetables, which are a bit soft and past their prime, you can make a nice soup from them.
Carrots, zucchini, eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, turnip, parsnip, rutabaga, bell pepper, pumpkin, tomato, onion, potato, yam, and beans are just some of the vegetables you can use in soup recipes. Some ingredients are seasonal and some are available throughout the year, but there are a lot of soups you can make in bulk and freeze.
Curried Parsnip and Potato Soup
The following recipe is healthy, wholesome, easy to make and serves two people. Serve it with crusty bread for a satisfying lunch or warming supper. If you can get organic parsnip and potatoes, this soup will be even tastier.
The spices give it a subtle curry flavor and you can make double the amount and freeze half if you want to. If you are not cooking for vegetarians, you can use chicken broth instead of the vegetable broth.
Veggie Parsnip Soup Recipe with Potatoes
What you will need:
  • 1 potato, peeled and chopped
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 8 oz parsnip, peeled and sliced
  • 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
  • 1/4 teaspoon curry powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric

How to make it:Put all the ingredients in a large saucepan and bring them to the boil. Simmer the soup for about 15 minutes, stirring it occasionally. Let the soup cool a bit, and then liquidize it in the blender in batches. You can use a potato masher if you do not have a blender. Push the soup through a sieve with a wooden spoon if you want it finer. Serve it hot with fresh, crusty bread and butter.
Great food has always been a way of life in our household and having lots of different easy recipes to choose from is very important. After all, between work and the kids' activities it seems there is hardly any time left to think about eating let alone eating health. I mean who has time to make a full fledge sit-down meal in today's rat race? We know this all too well with our family of six time is preciously short!
Vegetable soup might not sound like a substantial, filling meal but it really is! Also, vegetable soup is a great dish to make in bulk because it freezes so well, meaning you can thaw portions out for an ultra quick lunch or supper. Try an easy canned pumpkin soup recipe for a speedy, nutritious meal.
Pumpkin is a wonderful ingredient for soup at any time of the year and the crockpot is a great way to cook pumpkin soup recipes. If you are looking for a creamy pumpkin soup recipe, a canned pumpkin soup recipe, a spicy pumpkin soup recipe or some other kind, you will love the comprehensive soup recipe collection we have for you at PumpkinSoup.org

Monday, December 6, 2010

Using Root Vegetables to Make Easy Soup Recipes

Root vegetables are a real staple in the wintertime. They are affordable, tasty, and full of nutrients. So, what is a root vegetable exactly? Root veggies are actually plant roots, which are used as vegetables. The "root" is the part of the plant, which grows underground.
Popular root veggies include carrot, parsnip, rutabaga, radish, beet, sweet potato, and yam. Some bulbs also count as root vegetables and examples include onion, shallot, and garlic.

Vegetable soup

Tips for Storing and Using Root Vegetables
Most root veggies keep for up to two weeks and should be stored in plastic bags. You can leave the skin on young carrots or turnips but you should peel bigger or older ones because the skin will be bitter.
When you are using these vegetables to make a soup or stew, feel free to mix and match. All root vegetables complement each other's flavors, which is why root vegetable pairings like potato and carrot, turnip and rutabaga or onion and garlic are used so often in recipes.
How to Make a Spiced Root Vegetable Soup
This soup is richly flavored, filling, and easy to make. If you have never tasted a root vegetable soup before, you are in for a real treat. A lot of people have tried famous soup recipes like French onion soup or minestrone soup but have not made root vegetable soup.
You might like to try turnip or rutabaga instead of the carrots, for a different flavor. Diced potato or yam works nicely also.
This might be a basic soup but it is a real winter warmer and ideal for the whole family. Serve this vegetable soup with thick slabs of buttered bread. This recipe makes enough to serve four people.
What you will need:
  • 10 oz parsnips
  • 6 oz carrots
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 onion
  • 1 quart chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1 stick celery
  • 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

How to make it:Peel the carrots and parsnips and slice them into 1/3 inch thick disks. Finely chop the celery and onion and crush the garlic. Put the oil in a big pan and heat it over a medium heat. Add the celery and onion and fry them for 3 minutes. Add the crushed garlic and the spices.
Cook the mixture for 20 seconds over a high heat, stirring it all the time. Add the broth, parsnips, and carrots. Add salt and pepper to taste and bring the soup to the boil. Simmer it until the vegetables are soft, and then puree it in a blender in batches, until the soup is the consistency you like. You can leave it a bit chunky if you prefer. Serve the soup hot.
Soup is a classic dish, which anyone can learn to make. Impress your family with a root vegetable soup or a tasty French onion soup, you will find that there are easy recipes which combine fresh vegetables with other ingredients, to make a healthy, warming soup. Once you start making your own French onion soup recipes, you will be delighted at the simplicity of the recipes and your family's enjoyment of them!
FrenchOnionSoups.com - Simple, Elegant, Perfection; Soup the Way it Was Meant to Be!

Vegetable Soup Diet - Lose 10 Lbs a Week

A vegetable soup diet has the dual advantage of being very nutritious as well as low in calories and contributing to weight loss. As a result, it forms the core of many different diets and it is possible to even design your own soup diet and select ingredients according to personal preferences.

Chicken Vegetable Soup

There are some important matters to consider no matter which approach you take to a vegetable soup diet - whether to adopt one that is known to be popular or concoct a recipe of your own.
1. Canned foods tend to have a high salt content, so try to avoid these in your soup if possible.
2. Potatoes have a high glycemic index - they are absorbed more readily into your bloodstream, so use these in the mix sparingly, if at all.
3. Many cookbook recipes for vegetable soup also specify a lot of salt, so be alert to this and keep the content as low as possible. The presence of sodium salt encourages water retention in the body, so adds weight.
4. Use as many fresh vegetables as possible.
Here is a nutritious, delicious and easy to prepare recipe and daily plan for a 3 day diet which will shed about 5 lbs weight:
Ingredients:
1 16 oz can of beans or lentils
1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes
Several sticks of celery
1 large onion
1/2 head of cabbage, chopped
16 oz pumpkin, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
Seasoning as preferred
Beef or chicken stock, as preferred
Cover with water and boil for 10 minutes, then simmer until the vegetables are tender.
No alcohol or bread to be consumed.
Day 1: Eat only fruit and soup today. As much as you like of both, spaced throughout the day with about six meals to minimize hunger. Do not include bananas in your diet.
Day 2: Eat veggies today, along with the soup. Again, as much as you like in about six meals spaced throughout the day. The veggies may be cooked or raw. Give preference to green leafy veggies if possible. At dinnertime, a treat is allowed in the form of a baked potato with butter.
Day 3: Have all the soup, veggies and fruit that you want but no potato.
After 3 days of this diet, you should be about 5 lbs lighter and can return to moderate helpings of your normal diet. If you have problems with bowel movements, a cup of bran will help.
As outlined, this diet is intended for a period of only 3 days, with a break of 4 days normal eating before following the diet again.
A variation of this diet which covers a 7 day period is based on the Sacred Heart Diet. It aims for a weight loss of 10 lbs:
Day 4: Because your body now requires additional potassium, carbohydrates and calcium, eat at least three bananas throughout the day and drink as much skimmed milk as you want. Also have at least one serving of soup.
Day 5: 10 - 20 oz of meat is allowed - beef, skinless chicken or broiled fish. Not fried. Have up to six tomatoes, along with at least one serving of soup.
Day 6: 10 - 20 oz of meat is allowed - beef or skinless chicken, not fried. Also as many veggies as you want, especially green leafy ones. One or more servings of soup.
Day 7: As much soup as you like. As well, cooked veggies, brown rice and unsweetened fruit juice is permitted.
By the end of day seven, it's likely that you will be at least 10 lbs lighter.
This vegetable soup diet plan has plenty of nutrients as well as protein and carbohydrates. It is not intended to be adopted as a lifestyle and some may find it too stringent to follow. However, a weight loss target of 10 lbs requires that some persistence must be shown to achieve this. The practices outlined offer a useful guideline for changes in eating habits that may allow further weight loss if this plan is only loosely followed (or adapted to your needs) beyond the seven days.
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