Soup Recipes For Dieters

My fairy-tale based blog certainly has to ADORE a fatfighting blogger named "Twisted Cinderella." Well, she's on the FitRoll (see sidebar), and I visited her site just a couple of days ago. I wanted to share two of her yummy sounding soup recipes.

Y'all like soup? I ADORE SOUP! Among my faves are lentil, black bean (Cuban style), red bean (Cuban or Puerto Rican style), garbanzo (my mother's style, ie, Creole), pasta fagioli, cream of mushroom (a no-no on this eating plan, ouch), tomato bisque (ah, the cream, sigh), and gazpacho. I go nuts over gazpacho. (I'm a tomato freak.) (See below for gazpacho recipe from SElf.com.)

Well one of the recipes from TC's site a few days ago was Dahl (the Indian for lentil). Well, here, I'm copying and pasting. I hope TC doesn't mind:

Dahl Soup.(Basic)
1 1/2 cups dhal (yellow split peas)
6 cups of water or stock.
1 teasp.salt.
1/4 teasp.crushed ginger.
1/4 teasp.crushed garlic.
1 teasp.curry powder.
1 small onion chopped.
a pinch of cummin.

Wash dhal, add to the water or stock and bring to the boil with the rest of the ingredients,then simmer for 30 minutes or till the dhal is soft.When cooked it should be yellow in colour and the consistency of sloopy porridge,
There are several different other spices you can add depending on what you like,as in
fenugreek seeds and lemon juice,
Masala.
chillies,
curry leaves,
Even add some spinach near the end of cooking and top with a dollop of sour cream.

Creamy Vegetable Soup

This is wonderful way to get rid of all the left over veggies from your holiday vegetable trays. I modified it from a recipe that used an entire cube of butter a quart of heavy cream and four cups of cheese!

4-6 cups chopped broccoli florets, cauliflower, and carrots.
1 Quart chicken or vegetable stock, or as much as you need to cover the vegetables.
1 medium onion
1 Potato (optional)
2-3 stalks of celery
2-3 cloves of garlic minced or crushed.
1 tbs olive oil
Two Thyme sprigs
2 Bay Leaves
3/4 C. half and half, FF or just use milk.
Salt and Pepper to taste.
Grated cheese to sprinkle on top.

Saute' onions, celery and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add the other vegetables, chicken stock, thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes or until veggies are soft. Remove from heat and mash vegetables just a bit with a potato masher.
Discard the thyme stems and bay leaves. Stir in the half and half. Serve with a little grated cheese on top.

She has other nifty sounding vegetarian recipes over there. Visit and see.


Her week's eating menu sounds delicious, if overly heavy on eggs. One day had three egg dishes--B, L, D. I have cholesterol issues and I actually fear having more than one to two eggs a day, and I use egg whites at least half or more of the time. I do eat whole eggs on a weekly basis, though, cause 1. I like em and 2 they have great nutrients in the yolk that protect eye health. And I got crap eyes.

But if I could eat six whole eggs a day, I probably would. Adore eggs.

One of my "comfort food" combos is fried eggs with fried sweet plantains. Or fried eggs with fried yuca (cassava root), and yes, my mom used to use lots and lots of oil, deep fat frying those eggs. Egads. Nowadays, when I have fried eggs, I use a non-stick pan and PAM spray, maybe a teaspoon of Smart Balance to give it that fried consistency, sort of. And I used BAKED sweet plantains, not fried. Same fabulous taste, much, much less fat.

The boiled yuca doesn't cut it with eggs the way the fried does. Ah, well. Can't have it all.

If you have fabulous soup recipes that yield soup with low points, let me know. Link me up. Comment me.

Oh, I just found this one at Health Discovery, three WW points per serving: Red Lentil and Spinach Soup (Do add olive oil to make it heart healthier, not just any cheap old vegetable oil. And extra virgin makes for FLAVOR!)

And if you like squash, try this one with only a handful of ingredients: Delicata Soup

Now, that gazpacho recipe from Self.com, a magazine I've subscribed to for, geez, a longlonglong time. Nearly since they first came out in the, what, 80's--though I clearly have not always followed their dieting and fitness advice:

HEIRLOOM TOMATO GAZPACHO
Serves 8


INGREDIENTS
6 large heirloom tomatoes, all varieties and colors, seeded and diced into 1/4-inch cubes (reserve seeds and juices)
1 medium red onion, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
3/4 English or hothouse cucumber, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1 1/2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1 1/2 yellow bell peppers, cored, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 tbsp Tabasco
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
8 tbsp aged balsamic vinegar


PREPARATION
In a bowl, combine tomatoes, seeds and juices, along with onion, cucumber and peppers. Add cilantro, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, and Tabasco. Add a few pinches of salt and black pepper. Using hands or two forks, squish vegetables into a juicy soup, leaving a few big pieces. Add oil in small increments, tasting as you go. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. Ladle soup into bowls and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

THE SKINNY
120 calories per serving
7.4 g fat (1 g saturated fat)
11.6 g carbohydrates
1.9 g protein
2.5 g fiber

Enjoy soup this week.

Later...

Onward and Downward!