This indulgent, creamy-tasting soup is an even more low-fat adaptation of my reflux-friendly chicken and sweetcorn chowder, liquidised to be suitable for the post-bariatric surgery liquid diet phase. It stands up as a new soup in its own right as it is absolutely delicious and suitable for the whole family! Please note changes to my original recipe, below.
replace the butter with a few sprays of spray-cooking oil, if you want to make it even more low-fat
do not add ANY flour
once the soup is cooked, liquidise it all in a fine blender, then pass it through a fine sieve – this is really important on the liquid diet, to ensure no sweetcorn hulls or other small ‘bits’ are left behind
Serve and enjoy!
Gloriously simple, gloriously good!
Disclaimer: I am not a dietitian or medical professional. These are simply ideas based on meals I have created to suit my own dietary needs and, as I’ve enjoyed them, I wanted to share them. If you are unsure about the suitability of any ingredients or recipes on my blog for your own requirements, please check with a health professional first.
This is another one of my low-cal, low-carb, low-fat recipes for my pre-op diet before I have weight loss surgery next week.
The recipe is one of those ‘chuck things in’ kind of recipes, so the vegetable quantities are approximate. Play around with it and find what suits your palate in terms of actual vegetables used and ratio of one to another 🙂
Ingredients (for two hearty / filling portions containing virtually no fat and half the amount of protein I was advised to have in one day during my pre-op diet)
1 chicken thigh (boneless, skinless, all visible fat removed), approx. 100g raw weight
1l chicken stock (I make this with 2 Knorr chicken stock pots and 1l water, but you can make your own low-fat stock or buy other stock cubes / pots)
2-3 baby carrots or one standard carrot, scraped, topped and tailed (cut into smaller chunks if using a standard size carrot)
2-3 broccoli florets
Approximately 200g tinned chopped tomatoes
2 very small potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 small courgette, cut into chunky slices
Method
Place all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil, then simmer for approximately 30 minutes or until all ingredients are cooked and the harder vegetables are tender enough to break easily with a spoon.
Once the soup is cooked, remove the chicken thigh and set it aside, then place the remaining ingredients (all stock and all vegetables) into a food processor. Blend until smooth or, if you prefer, leave a few chunkier pieces in.
Chop the chicken into pea-size pieces. As this makes two portions, place half the chicken pieces into a food storage container or bag and add half the soup.
If you don’t want that much soup in one go, you can of course split this into more portions. If you are following a pre-op diet like mine, make sure you have enough protein in your other meal of the day if you have less than half the chicken thigh in one meal.
Serve the remaining half of soup, with the remaining half of chopped chicken pieces, immediately.
Gloriously simple, gloriously good!
Disclaimer: I am not a dietitian or medical professional. These are simply ideas based on meals I have created to suit my own dietary needs and, as I’ve enjoyed them, I wanted to share them. If you are unsure about the suitability of any ingredients or recipes on my blog for your own requirements, please check with a health professional first.
Chicken Chowder (Updated recipe to make it suitable for Reflux sufferers*)
This is a recipe inspired by the amazing ‘soup van’ soup that we used to get when I used to work in an office, a few years ago. Theirs was definitely NOT low-cal, but this is my own low-fat version.
Ingredients – for 4 hungry people or for 6 people as a starter/first course
6 skinless boneless chicken thigh fillets, all visible fat removed
4 medium-sized potatoes (approx 450g)
1 large tin sweetcorn, drained (285g drained weight)
10g butter
4tbsp plain flour
4 cloves garlic (If you are a reflux sufferer affected by garlic, then either leave the garlic out altogether or replace it with a sprinkling of thyme)
2l chicken stock (you can use home-made, or any good commercial stock…I like to make it up with 2l boiling water and 4 Knorr Chicken Stockpots)
Salt (to taste)
Dried chilli flakes (to taste – do not add these if you are a reflux sufferer and chilli affects you. I personally find I can easily tolerate a very light sprinkling added during cooking, but definitely not as shown in the photo below!)
Add the chicken and garlic (if using – if you are using thyme instead, you can add it at this stage), season with salt & chilli flakes (if using)
Brown the chicken on a high heat for a minute or two
Turn down the heat to minimum & add the flour, stirring it in well
Add a few drops of chicken stock and stir these in well, making a paste around the chicken pieces
Keep adding the stock, a little bit at a time, each time stirring it in well before adding more
Once you’ve added all the stock, add the potatoes and sweetcorn
Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat
Simmer for 20-30 mins, until the potatoes are soft but not mushy, stirring occasionally
Serve immediately
Tip: Don’t put too many chilli flakes in at the cooking stage, but put some on the table, allowing individuals to make this soup as fiery as their tastebuds will tolerate! Even if you cook this without chilli to avoid setting off your reflux, everyone else around the table can still turn this into a fiery soup by adding chilli flakes at the table.
*Please note I am not a doctor, speech therapist or in any way medically qualified. The recipes are a combination of my interpretation of the rules outlined in the ‘Dropping Acid – The Reflux Diet’ book and ingredients that work for my reflux. If you believe you suffer from reflux, please seek advice from a medical professional to confirm your diagnosis and work out the best course of treatment/management for you. I hope that my recipes can help you as part of this management. The recipes are, by their nature, very low in fat, so are also suitable for anyone wishing to follow a low-fat diet.
Gloriously Good Food 