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Health NutritionEat soup for a healthy dayby Emily Bender It’s a rainy day and I am feeling like I might be coming down with something. All I want to eat is a nice bowl of soup. Soup is so comforting and nourishing, it’s the perfect food when you are feeling a little cold, a little down or a little sick.I grew up thinking that I didn’t like soup. As an adult I realized that this was because my mother fed me only canned soup, which is practically salty enough to kill the plants in your garden. This had two effects on me: 1. I thought all soup was really salty (read yucky—I’ve never liked salty things) and 2. Soup must be hard to make. Both of these assumptions are completely false, of course. Soup one of the easiest and most satisfying things to make—and of course you can salt it to taste. Nutritionally, soups can be a powerhouse of minerals, fiber and protein. Slow cooking of lots of vegetables releases their nutrients into the liquid, making them easy to absorb. You can easily add culinary or medicinal herbs to a soup to boost its health benefits. A good soup needs a good stock as a base. You can easily make your own chicken or vegetable broth at home. Slow cooking poultry or meats with the bones releases proteins, minerals and other compounds into the stock. Here’s how I make chicken stock. Put a whole chicken (and a couple of other legs and thighs if you have a very large pot) in a large stockpot. Add the vegetables – the amounts are not important - carrots, celery, ginger, garlic, onions, then salt to taste, add herbs, and pepper. Fill the pot with water and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for as many hours as you have. I try to do at least 7 hours, but sometimes I have only 2 or 4. It still tastes good. The longer it simmers, the more intense the flavor. Let cool and strain out veggies and chicken. Freeze what you aren’t going to use in the next week. You can use the chicken to make curry, chicken pot pie, or enchiladas. To make veggie stock, put a bunch of veggies in a big pot with water, herbs and spices as desired. Bring it to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for as long as you have. I don’t suggest putting broccoli or cauliflower in your stock, but most vegetables are good: summer and winter squash, cabbage, fennel, potato, dandelion greens, etc. If you want to increase the immune boosting properties of either kind of stock, you can add shitake mushrooms and/or a couple of slices of astragalus root. Thyme is also beneficial if you have a cold. Fresh burdock root is a nice addition to a stock and it supports the liver and skin. Now that you have your stock, how do you make it into soup? My general theory of soup is: use what you have available. I often make soup if I don’t have enough of any one thing to make a dish. If you have celery, fennel and zucchini in your fridge, a good stock and a couple of cloves of garlic, there’s your soup. If its carrots, ginger and turnips, that works, too. Have fun. be creative. Make some unusual combinations. You just may discover a new and exciting soup no one has eaten before. Here’s recipe for Carrot and Celery root soup that can serve as a model. Carrot and Celery Root Soup 1 clove garlic or 1 leek 1-2 Tbs butter or Olive oil 2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger 4 large carrots, chopped 3 stalks celery, chopped 1 celery root, peeled and cubed 2.5 cups chicken or veggie stock 1 teaspoon ground cumin Salt and pepper to taste Place butter, garlic and ginger in a cold soup pot. Turn on the heat to medium low and sauté until tender. Add the rest of the ingredients. Cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until carrots and celery root are tender, 30-40 minutes. Puree soup in a blender or right in the pot using a hand blender. Add more water or broth to achieve desired consistency. Serve plain, or with crème fraiche, sour cream, cheddar cheese or sunflower seeds. Enjoy! Emily is a Certified Nutrition Consultant practicing in Fairfax. Visit her website: www.gourmethelping.com. |
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