Soup Season

Green Goddess Soup
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■1 onion, peeled and finely diced
■600mls home-made vegetable stock (I used Marigold Swiss Low-Salt Vegetable Bouillon)
■4 spring onions, trimmed and chopped
■450g to 500g assorted green lettuce & salad leaves (such as Batavia lettuce, Iceberg Lettuce, Watercress, Rocket, Spinach and Nettles)
■small bunch of mint (chopped, about 2 to 2 tablespoons, some left for a garnish)
■2 teaspoons cornflour (mixed with a little milk)
■200ml skimmed milk (0% fat)
■salt and pepper (to taste)
Note
This amazingly tasty soup is low in calories and packed full of your five-a-day requirements; use any green leaves in this soup, which is a perfect way of using a glut of summer lettuces. The herbs can be adjusted to suit your personal tastes, chives and parsley are also wonderful when added to this soup. Only 50 calories per portion - this soup can be frozen and can also be eaten chilled on a hot day.

Directions
Step 1 Pour the stock into a large saucepan that has a lid and add the chopped onion and spring onions. Simmer with the lid on for 10 minutes, or until the onions are soft.
Step 2 Add the lettuce and green leaves, replace the lid and simmer for a further 15 to 20 minutes, or until the leaves have cooked down and are soft. Add the chopped mint and cook for a further 1 to 2 minutes.
Step 3 Transfer the soup to a blender or using a hand-held immersion blender, liquidise the soup until it is smooth. Pour the soup back into the saucepan.
Step 4 Add the cornflour and milk paste to the rest of the milk and then add it to the soup. Bring the soup to the boil and then turn down the heat, making sure you stir it continually until the soup has thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Step 5 Serve in warmed soup bowls and scatter some chopped mint over the top of the soup as a garnish.
Step 6 Quick home-made vegetable stock: Simmer a celery stalk, a leek, a couple of carrots, an onion, a bay leaf, some garlic cloves in a litre of water with salt and pepper until they are soft and cooked. Strain the vegetables and liquid into a jug and keep in the fridge until needed. Will keep for up to a week. Use any seasonal vegetables you have to hand.

Good ole cabbage soup - but not so cabbagey. I just call it Trader Joe's veggie coup and my kids love it.

4 cups beef broth
2 cups shredded cabbage (prepack at Trader Joe's)
1 container Veggie Mirepoix from Trader Joe's (it's about a half cup each of chopped celery, carrots, onion and cabbage)
1 tsp crushed garlic (TJ's)
2 T Worcestershire sauce
1 small can V-8 low sodium
Salt & Pepper to taste

Saute the Mirepoix veggies in a bit of olive oil. While they are sautéing, in a soup pot add beef broth, V-8, garlic, cabbage and worcestershire sauce and heat on med-high. Add mirepoix to the soup pot and bring to a slight boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered for 15 minutes. Done. For the kids I garnish with a bit of parmesan. For myself I either use a few squirts of Cholula or more Worcestershire. For 6 servings it's about 60c per serving but that's a pretty good sized bowl, you can probably get 8-10 mug sized cups out of batch for a lower calorie count.

I love making soup, it's so easy and can be different every time, depending on what I have in the fridge and freezer to use. Last night I made a huge pot of ground beef, quinoa, broccolinni, spinach, and asparagus soup. Have enough for lunches for the rest of the week now, too. I was lazy and just used a package of Lipton's onion soup mix for the base.

What is sauerkraut?

What is sauerkraut?

WHHHAAAAATTT??

Thank you for the ideas!

For my butternut squash soup I just sautee some onions in a little bit of butter (like 1 tablespoon in the whole pot of soup) then add chicken broth, bring it to a boil and throw in cut up raw squash, simmer til soft and puree with an immersion blender, then add salt pepper and most importantly, nutmeg! I think next time I'm going to add an apple too. Super low calorie and delicious.