Looking for a Few Good Winter Soup Recipes

Hi H..

This is one I love to shop for with my kids. They love the wide array of different colorful ingredients that go into it and enjoy helping to prepare it with me. This particular recipe offers a walloping 3 servings of vegetables per serving!! Serve it with a nice warm loaf of whole grain bread and a salad for even more nutrition.

I use the CDC(Center for Disease Control and Prevention) website often for recipes because they give the nutritional facts for each one and the site really focuses on ways to get those whole fruits and veggies into your kids' daily diets. Here's their link:
http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/index.html

Winter Vegetable Stew

Recipe Summary:

Preparation Time: 45 minutes

Number of Servings: 6

Cups of Fruits and Vegetables Per Person: 1.50

Ingredients: 1 cup onions, cut into 1/2 inch wedges
1 sweet potato
2 carrots
1 lb banana or Hubbard squash
1 cup parsnips
2 cloves garlic
1 red bell pepper
2 cups low sodium, low-fat vegetable broth
1 cup puréed tomato
2 Tbsp lime juice
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 (10 oz) package frozen peas
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 bunch cilantro sprigs, rinsed, or thinly sliced green onions

Directions: Peel onions and cut into 1/2-inch-thick wedges. Peel the sweet potato, carrots, squash, and parsnips; cut into 3/4-inch pieces. Peel and mince or press garlic. Rinse bell pepper; stem, seed, and cut into 1/2-inch strips. Cook onions, sweet potato, carrots, squash, parsnips, garlic, and 1 cup of broth in a covered pan for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a few Tbsps of water if mixture begins sticking to pan. Add 1 more cup of broth, along with the bell pepper, tomato sauce, lime juice, and cayenne to taste. Return to a boil, and then reduce heat. Simmer covered until vegetables are tender when pierced, about 12 to 15 minutes. If stew sticks to pan or gets thicker than desired, add more broth as needed. Add peas and stir occasionally until hot, about 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into soup bowls, and garnish with cilantro or sliced green onions.

Nutrition Facts
Winter Vegetable Stew
Serving Size 1/6 recipe
Amount Per Serving
Calories 150 Calories from Fat 10


% Daily Value (DV)*

Total Fat 2g 2%
Saturated Fat 1g 3%
Trans Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 390mg 16%
Total Carbohydrate 30g 10%
Dietary Fiber 8g 32%
Sugars 9g

Protein 7g


Vitamin A 250%
Vitamin C 100%
Calcium 6%
Iron 10%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Diabetic Exchange**

Fruit: 0
Vegetables: 3
Meat: 0
Milk: 0
Fat: 0
Carbs: 1
Other: 0

** Diabetic exchanges are calculated based on the American Diabetes Association Exchange System. This site rounds exchanges up or down to equal whole numbers. Therefore, partial exchanges are not included.

bake a whole pumpkin or squash at 350 for an hour. i bake pumpkins frm my garden. in pan, in oven. iasy. not peel. no work. then, when soft, open, clean out seeds, use melon baller to scoop out pulp from skin. toss in blender. run. put water, leftover juice, and a teaspoon dry chickin bouillion per cup into pot. dump in the squash, mix. heat. season with something if you wish. any soup always tasts good if a bay leaf was steeped in it a bit. remember tofish out the bay leaf. they are not edible. add some half and half before serving. taste to determine, half coup, whole cup, more... simple. everyone seems to love it. it's a simplification of a fancy restaurant's squash souup. and i have a basement of pumpkin left to go.....

Hey H.,

I have a great recipe resource for you, check out http://www.simplefoodie.com/recipe.htm?id=4. I love the recipes because they are tasty, healthy and realistic. All the recipes on this site have been tested at home. One of my favorites is the minestrone soup, yum! I like making a large batch,then freezing small 8 oz bags for the days you crave homemade soup but don't have the time to prepare. Enjoy!

Stay-at-home mom with two children also 7 and 4.

Here's a recipe that my mom used to make in the winter. I grew up back East, so we had some mighty cold/snowy days to enjoy this! I'll just list the ingredients - you can fill in the amounts based on your tastes and how many people you're cooking for. My kids don't like spinach or meatballs, but they both ate this soup and loved it - go figure! The whole thing takes only about 30 minutes to make - 20 min. to mix and fry the meatballs and 10 minutes to cook the soup. Enjoy!

Italian Wedding Soup

Chicken broth
pastina (tiny pasta "pellets")
chopped spinach
tiny meatballs (I use ground turkey to make mine-try to make them about the size of a marble)
shredded parmesan (to sprinkle on top)

H.,
My family (even the kids!) love this soup!

Taco Soup
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
1 diced green pepper
1 chopped onion
Brown in large soup pot, then strain. Add:

1 can chili beans or pinto beans
1 can corn
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
1 pkg. Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix
1 c. water
Cover and simmer 15 minutes. That's it!
I let the kids top it off with their favorite toppings - grated cheddar cheese, avocado, sour cream, cilantro, maybe some chopped onion for the grown ups.
Then give them a little bowl full of Fritos or tortilla chips (the Scoups) for a spoon.
They think they are having chip 'n dip for dinner, but it's actually loaded w/ protein!
Of course, leave out the onion and bell pepper in the browning process if your kids won't eat it like that, it's still good. And I don't strain the beans or corn, either. Super easy!
Enjoy!