The wintery weather we are having makes me think of how good a piping hot bowl of soup would taste. Whether it’s a prize winning recipe for chili or a recipe you are preparing for the first time, soups can be a great way to add nutrition and a sense of warmth to any meal.
There are several distinct kinds of soups. Many times a meal starts off with a broth type of soup. This can help whet the appetite for the rest of the meal. A broth type soup can also help keep a person hydrated since we often don’t drink enough water on a cold wintery day. One of our favorite soups is Miso soup. It’s simple to make, and besides tasting good, the miso paste added at the end of the cooking time, has cancer fighting properties.
Savory soups and stews are popular in the winter months because they stick to your ribs. As a general rule, a savory soup may cook more slowly, like in a slow cooker or electric roaster. The added benefit of preparing a soup in this way is that you get to enjoy the smell of the soup while it is cooking throughout the day. You can add just about any vegetable to a savory soup and not be disappointed.
And finally, there are creamy soups. Recipes abound in this category. Some creamy soups are milk based but you can also find recipes where you pull out a few ladles full of the chunky ingredients and use an immersion blender to puree part of the soup before adding it back in to the entire pot full. This will thicken the soup and provide an almost creamy texture. Perhaps a family member is not fond of the texture of a soup ingredient; by pureeing it like I’ve described, you can almost hide an ingredient.
Whatever type of soup you choose to prepare, you will find that cooking from scratch has many advantages. I try to avoid using canned soups as much as possible because they add a large amount of sodium and other preservatives to your diet. If you do purchase canned soup, make sure you look for low sodium options.
If I have made you just a little bit hungry for soup, I hope you will mark your calendar for Sunday, January 26th. That is the date of our next Healthy Community Potluck from 4-6 p.m. at the Trinity Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall in Great Bend. The focus of our January potluck will be on plant based soups, so start looking for a recipe to prepare and share. I will do a short cooking demonstration at 4 and then we’ll enjoy sampling all of the soups brought by everyone. Make sure you bring a recipe and following the potluck we will e-mail all of the recipes out to everyone. I hope to see you on the 26th!
Donna Krug is the District Director and Family & Consumer Science Agent with K-State Research & Extension – Cottonwood District. You may reach her at (620)793-1910 or [email protected]