vegetable soup

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.

Hearty vegetable soup with tomatoes and chicken - gloriouslygoodfood.com

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.

A Vegetable Soup packed with Nutrients!

This is an easy no-fuss vegetable soup recipe that I love to make in bulk so I can eat it for a few days for lunch when I’m working from home. It’s very filling and nutritious and very low in fat, which also makes it excellent for reflux sufferers*.

The quantities are not precise in this soup – it’s one of those ‘chuck everything in’ type of soups, so here are some guidelines to get you started.

Ingredients

Pea and Barley Soup Mix (I use Sainsbury’s version, but there are others, for example Tesco Soup and Broth Mix) – 3-4 handfuls, depending on how much soup I’m making and how much bulk I want in it. These usually need soaking overnight – follow pack instructions. You can also use lentils instead, for a different taste & texture, or leave these out altogether. The vegetable soup is delicious on its own.
A selection (or all) of the following vegetables:
- Savoy Cabbage, trimmed and quartered – I usually use a couple of quarters
- Curly Kale – lots!
- Fresh spinach leaves – lots! (whatever vegetables you choose to add or omit, I find that the spinach makes this soup extra special so I always include this)
- 2-3 carrots, trimmed, peeled/scraped and cut into big 2-3 cm long chunks
- 1 parsnip, trimmed, peeled and cut into big 2-3 cm long chunks
- Swede / Turnip, about half of one, depending on how large it is and how much you like the taste, peeled and cut into 2-3 big chunks
- 1 potato, peeled and cut into 4 big chunks
- Chicken stock cubes or stock pots – I use Knorr Chicken Stock Pots, but you could use vegetable stock instead and any good brand of stock pot or stock cube will work (quantities according to pack instructions, but typically 1 for each 500ml of water used)
- Water

Method

Soak the Pea and Barley Soup Mix overnight as indicated on the pack instructions.

When you’re ready to make your soup, drain the pea and barley mix and place in a small saucepan, cover with enough cold water to have as much depth of water over the peas and barley again as there is depth in the peas & barley mix (i.e. if you have a 2cm depth of pea & barley mix in the pan, make sure you have about 2cm of water above the pea & barley mix). Add enough stock cubes / stock pots to make a normal consistency stock, based on the amount of water you have used. For Knorr Chicken Stock Pots, this is 1 Stock Pot per 0.5l of water. Place on the hob and bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer for the cooking time recommended on the pack (usually around 50 minutes). The stock will reduce during this time and become quite thick. Do not let the mix boil dry – add more stock if required, but make sure there is only a little stock and it is quite thick by the end of cooking.

While the pea & barley mix is cooking in chicken stock, prepare your vegetables as described in the ingredients listing above. Place them all – but NOT the spinach! – into a large stockpot, add enough water to just cover the vegetables and enough stock cubes / stock pots to make a normal consistency stock, based on the amount of water you have used. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the hardest vegetables (usually the carrots) are soft. This can take approximately 30 minutes, but sometimes longer, depending on the size of the chunks.

Once the vegetable soup is cooked, turn off the heat and add the spinach leaves, pushing them down with a large spoon and stirring them into the soup. They will wilt within seconds. Let the soup cool for a few minutes, then blitz it to a fine consistency, either in a food blender or by using a hand-held blender in the stockpot itself (this is the easiest option, and the one I use!). Take care to avoid splashing with the hot soup!

Once your pea & barley mix is cooked and the chicken stock it sits in is nice and thick, add the pea and barley mix, with its thick stock, to the lovely bright green vegetable soup. Stir it in and serve.

Gloriously Good, Gloriously Simple, Gloriously reflux-friendly!

*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.