Opinions on homemade soup and frozen veggies

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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!

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/

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

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!

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.

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

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

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.