www.light-food-full-of-flavour.com

"Laughter is brightest in the place where the food is." Irish proverb

Happy New Year.

I personally do not believe in restrictive diet fads, which are often hard to follow. Once you get off them, it's easy to put the weight back on again.

The whole idea with my website is to show tasty ways to a healthier life, which can also help you lose/maintain your weight all year round. And something I often promote is soup, both as something that is healthy and as something that can help with weight loss.

Not only can soup be immensely filling, it can also be incredibly nutritious and low in calories. And, to top it off, it can be quick to make.

Of which there is NONE. As I like my soups to be thick, I simply add less stock or water to whatever vegetables I am using in the soup. If I find that it’s too thick once I’ve whizzed it with my stick blender, then I just add some more water afterwards.

What makes a soup filling?

WELL, in the clear broth with the minuscule vegetable bits, the liquid will fill you up, but only for a short time. As there is scant nutrition in such a soup, you’ll soon be hungry again.

IF, on the other hand, you combine the liquid with nutritious, slow-releasing carbohydrates and protein, you are on to a winner, big time!

VEGETABLES consist of a mixture of carbohydrates and protein. Lentils and beans are really rich in protein as well as carbohydrates and are really nutritious, so for a filling vegetable soup, they are a good thing to add.

ANOTHER filling, low-calorie, and super healthy protein-rich food is quinoa. Cook it separately and add it to your soup to make it incredibly filling and nutritious.

IF you eat fish and meat, adding some lean meat like cooked chicken or super-healthy omega-3-rich oily fish like mackerel or salmon to your vegetable soup will also make it a very filling soup.

TO keep it a low-calorie meal, try not to eat your soup with lots of bread with calorie-laden toppings. If you’ve made a really filling and nutritious soup, you might find that you don’t need any bread at all. It is infinitely better, both for your weight and your health, to eat a salad with your soup.

EVEN if you are not a keen cook, soup is quite easy to make and a great thing to have in your freezer. Make a lot while you are at it to make it easy for you to have a nutritious and filling meal at hand when you are not in the mood for cooking.

Recipe of the month:

A very tasty and healthy vegetable soup

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large red onion – roughly chopped

1 garlic clove – minced/crushed (optional)

1 teaspoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground chilli powder (optional)

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

3 large carrots – coarsely grated

1 large sweet potato – coarsely grated

1 heaped tablespoon tomato paste (purée)

Water – preferably hot from a kettle

100g, 3½oz, dark green leaves – such as spinach, rocket/arugula, kale, watercress

Add the oil and chopped onion to the pot over a medium-hot heat and fry for about 5 minutes, stirring every now and then to make sure the onion doesn’t burn.

Add all the spices, and garlic if using, to the pot and keep stirring for a further minute before adding the grated carrots, sweet potato and tomato paste to the pot. Pour in enough water to just cover the vegetables and give it a good stir. Bring to a simmer, then cover with a lid and leave to simmer for 10 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and take off the lid. Add all the dark green leaves to the pot and use a stick blender to blend to a smooth soup. Add more water if you think it’s too thick and then check the seasoning to see if you need any more salt.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS:

ADD cooked beans – lima/butter beans, cannellini beans, chickpeas or red kidney beans- to the blended soup and reheat for a couple of minutes. All beans and pulses are rich in protein and fibre and this will make this healthy and tasty soup much more filling.

ADD a big dollop of natural Greek yogurt (for added protein) and top each portion with chopped chives or spring onion/scallion.

YOU can also add cooked salmon or chicken, fried tofu or crumbled feta cheese to the blended soup.

Happy cooking!