Opinions on homemade soup and frozen veggies

anewell28

Hi guys,

With the temperature outside dropping, it makes me want to make soup. I am a volume eater, I can put away a lot of food easily so I try to eat low energy dense foods. My question for you guys is making a pot of soup something that would be worthwhile and do you have any good recipes?
Before tracking my calories, my soup recipes included: fresh onion, garlic, carrots and celery. Frozen bagged mixed veggies. ground beef or roasted chicken. chicken broth. and lots of herbs and seasoning!

Any substitutes can I make to create a better soup? Any tips or tricks you have?
I'll probably stick with chicken or ground turkey for a leaner protein in the soup rather than ground beef.
What is the best frozen veggie blend you have found nutrition wise?

Any input is appreciated!

WinoGelato

That soup sounds great! Why are you concerned about it, or why do you think it needs to be better, better in what way? Have you used the MFP recipe builder, a great tool to create a recipe of your own with all the ingredients you use, and then you know exactly how many servings and the weight (if using a food scale) of each for improved logging.

I make and freeze a lot of soups in the winter months! Great idea!

maryjaquiss

Are you making a broth or a blended soup? For blended soups, I add a potato, which really improves the texture, especially for less starchy veg. You only need a small-ish one, even in a relatively large batch.

MsChewMe

My favorite time of year, when the air starts to get a bit nippy and there is something bubbling in the crockpot.

Google is your friend. Where was I before google, looking through my tons of cookbooks for inspiration.

toxikon

Yep, I make a big pot of homemade soup at least once a month. Then my fiance and I take it to work for lunches all week. I input all the ingredient gram weights into a recipe, weigh the whole soup then set that as the serving size, so I can measure each serving and get the exact calorie count.

Basically, this would be a simplified version of what I do:

1. Create recipe:
200g carrots
200g celery
2L chicken broth
250g cooked chicken breast

2. Place large bowl on scale, tare it to zero, then pour the full soup contents in. Let's say the scale reads 1200g. I will add that to the "serving size" of the recipe.

3. Then when I pour a bowl for myself, I put the bowl on the scale, tare it to zero, then weigh the soup I add. On MFP, I select my recipe, put my serving as 250g (for example), and it will give me the correct calorie count.

As for recipes, here are some of my favourites:

Curried Butternut Squash Soup: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/235295/curried-butternut-squash-soup/
Ham and Potato Soup: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/56927/delicious-ham-and-potato-soup/
Spicy Chicken Soup: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/23874/catherines-spicy-chicken-soup/
Broccoli Cheddar Soup: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/235874/copycat-panera-broccoli-cheddar-soup/

As for tips... fresh veggies are always better than frozen. Root vegetables will taste delicious if roasted golden brown before adding to your soup.

deannalfisher

butternut squash soup is da bomb! and it freezes well so you can make it bulk

Sunnybrooke99

That sounds like an awesome soup. I also do a lot of volume eating. I love to add chopped kale leaves and some red pepper flakes. Oh, and if you’ve never tried chayote, go ahead and buy one. It’s a Mexican squash like fruit that is amazing in soups. If you want to add more protein to a soup, especially if you have other ppl in the family who eat more (I have a teen son), I like to add a hard boiled egg.

Kathryn247

Beans! Black beans, kidney beans, cannellini beans, whatever. They're my favorite protein for soups, they're low fat, store well, and blend well.

anewell28

Ok! Thanks guys! I just haven't put my recipe into a recipe builder to see what the calorie count would be.. Ill have to do that and make it!!

Need2Exerc1se

I love vegetable soup but I never use a recipe. I pretty much just put whatever vegetables I have on hand in a pan with some water/stock and cook it. It's different every time but always delicious.

fitoverfortymom

I make a lot of soup, especially in my slow cooker. I make a fiesta chicken soup, split pea, black bean, chili...others.

I use frozen vegetables a lot, especially a frozen veggie soup mix and mirepoix veggies

Lounmoun

Lentil or bean soups can be very filling and lower calorie.
Lemon lentil soup- https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/lemon-lentil-soup
Fassolatha
Minestrone

http://allrecipes.com/recipes/16369/soups-stews-and-chili/soup/

lporter229

I like to make a big pot of minestrone soup. I use whatever vegetables I can find in the fridge or freezer. I also add a can of beans and a can of tomatoes and a bunch of chopped fresh or frozen spinach. Spinach is a great finishing touch to almost any broth based soup.

cwolfman13

I make all kinds of soups and stews...not sure why this would be a concern...

mom23mangos

I soup just about all leftovers before they go bad. I take whatever meat and veggies are in the fridge and throw them in a pot with broth, crushed tomatoes, seasoning, etc. I'll usually throw in a can of mushrooms and beans too. I love soup!

abbynormalartist

I make a yummy chicken "noodle" soup but instead of noodles I add sliced cabbage. It sounds gross but it's actually how I made it before I was counting calories. It's delish and pretty low in calories so I can eat a ton of it.

MamaMc3

I have two amazing soup recipes - they are filling, cheap to make, they make a ton, and they are great heated up.

7 Can Taco Soup - http://togetherasfamily.com/2016/12/7-can-chicken-taco-soup/?utm_content=buffer0c041&utm_medium=social&utm_source=pinterest.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Hamburger soup - https://www.spendwithpennies.com/hamburger-soup/

Sunnybrooke99

An under appreciated soup is split pea. I simmer them and a little pearl barley with french herbs, til tender, and then add a can of low sodium cream of mushroom. It’s my son’s favorite.

ridiculous59

Every Sunday I make a crockpot of soup and that becomes my lunches for the week ahead. I usually take some protein with me too. My favourite is a Jamie Oliver recipe for carrot soup with grated ginger. Also add the zest and juice from an orange, chicken broth (or plain water), and an onion. When the carrots and onions are cooked, puree with a blender or hand blender. Love it

Alatariel75

Your soup sounds fantastic. I make similar and live on it during the week.

I also like to make Taco Soup (ground beef, tomatoes, celery, black beans, corn, taco seasoning)

litoria

Mmm, soup is fantastic! One of my favourites is green pea soup: 1 packet frozen peas, unsweetened almond or rice milk, diced onion, salt and pepper to taste. Fry diced onion until brown, add milk, add peas, simmer until peas are cooked, allow to cool, blend until smooth. Yum!

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PinkyPan1

I just made a pot of homemade tomato soup yesterday. Low calorie and delicious. If you are interested.

PinkyPan's Tomato Soup
Servings
4
calories per serving
143

4 Ingredients
1 container (4 cup (240ml) ea.) Free Range Chicken Broth - Fat Free
Simple Truth Organic....calories 20
Total Fat 0 Total Carbs 0 Protein 4

0.50 container (10 tbsp) Tomato Paste
Kroger...calories 75
Total Fat 0 Total Carbs 15 Protein 5

640 g Roma Tomato (G)
Raw...calories 448
Total Fat 6 Total Carbs 9 1 Protein 13

6 g Onions, raw -
calories 30
Total Fat 0 Total Carbs 7 Protein 1

Slice tomatoes, onions and roast at 400 degrees for @ 15 minutes. Remove from oven and puree. On the stove in a sauce pan add broth, puree tomatoes, onions. Bring to boil and then add tomato paste stir well until the paste is blended well. Simmer and add spices. I added basil and pepper.

kbmnurse

Yes, make soup. Thousands of recipes online. Get going.

zeldon919

Lentil soup is probably my favourite. 100s of variations, all so good. Lots of good beans soups too.

All of them are flexible and forgiving

Chunkahlunkah

I love soup! I have a few staples that I make frequently. My favorite one lately...

- sauteed veggies in the bottom of the soup pot with olive oil (celery, carrots, sliced baby bella mushrooms)
- after that's done, I add 2 big cans of petite diced tomatoes
- then I add about 8 cups of my favorite stock (boxed stuff that I buy) and some water
- bring that to a simmer
- while that's simmering, I prepare meatballs using 1 lb of 90/10 ground beef. I drop them raw into the pot and simmer for at least an hour
- at this point, I add a green of some sort and simmer for about 10 more minutes. I usually use baby spinach or baby bok choy. I throw in maybe a teaspoon of vinegar to brighten the flavors.
- I season throughout with salt and pepper, dried parsley, plenty of my fav garlic and onion powder, and a little red pepper flakes.
- I usually serve with some Parmesan cheese (which is also in my meatball recipe).

I make about 7 servings from this and each serving gets 2 meatballs. Calories end up being about 400 for a huge bowl.

Chunkahlunkah

@PinkyPan1 Mmm that sounds good! I've actually never pureed anything before.

bebeisfit

Awesome ideas here. I make black bean soup every 2 weeks. So simple. Saute onion and jalapeno add cumin, salt and Adobe seasoning. Add a big can of black beans plus a small can of Mexican style tomato,sauce and one can water or stock. Cook at least 20 min and puree.

As with nearly all soups it's much better the 2nd day. And so versatile add celery and carrots (with onion) if you have them..no big deal if you dont.

HeidiCooksSupper

I like to throw variety in soups by using lots of flavoring ingredients like curry pastes and the like. I also like to use a variety of frozen mixed vegetables like Trader Joe's "soycatash" or Birdseye's more unusual mixes like broccoli, sugar snap peas and water chestnuts.

One staple I keep on hand is homemade stock. In fact, I will make a "bathtubful" today for the freezer. I watch for those 10 lb. bags of chicken leg quarters to be on sale and then roast it all at once. I portion the meat into meal-sized portions and save the bones, skin, sinews, etc. to make stock which I freeze in one- and two-cup deli containers. You don't need a big freezer for this. I just have the little top-of-the-fridge one.