HEALTHY BENEFITS OF EATING SOUP AND 2 YUMMY RECIPES

Soup season has arrived. With temperatures lowering heading into winter, there is no food more comforting than a steaming bowl of soup. A bowl of your favorite soup will warm you from the inside out when it is cold outside. With fresh healthy ingredients, it can also boost your intake of important nutrients derived from vegetables.

This article will take you through the health benefits of soup. It will also fill you in on the advantages of using wooden cutlery and bowls to maximize your eating enjoyment and optimize the flavors and nutrients.  Finally, I will share with you 2 of my favorite soup recipes to get you started on a healthy winter trend.

Good Soup Starts with the Right Ingredients

Choosing the right ingredients for soup is crucial to creating a delicious, nutritious, and well-balanced dish that meets your dietary preferences and restrictions. Careful ingredients selection allows you to tailor your soup to your taste and dietary goals while ensuring it’s flavorful and satisfying.

Seasonality is a key component in choosing the right vegetables. Using seasonal ingredients can ensure that your soup is fresher, more affordable, and environmentally friendly. Seasonal vegetables and herbs are often at their peak in terms of flavor and nutrition.

The flavor of a soup largely depends on the ingredients used. Choosing fresh, high-quality ingredients, such as vegetables, meats, herbs, and spices, can enhance the taste of the soup. For example, using fresh herbs and aromatic vegetables like onions, garlic, and celery can add depth and complexity to the flavor.

The choice of ingredients affects the texture of the soup too. Different vegetables, proteins, and grains have varying textures when cooked. For instance, root vegetables like carrots and potatoes add a hearty and starchy quality, while leafy greens like spinach can provide a delicate, tender texture.

A well-balanced soup typically includes a combination of ingredients to create a harmonious taste. For example, a vegetable soup might have a balance of sweet, savory, and umami flavors from ingredients like tomatoes, onions, and mushrooms.

The 6 Health Benefits of Soup

Soup offers a wide range of benefits, both nutritional and practical. Some of the practical reasons include their convenience, most soups are easy to prepare, the variety and diversity of flavors available, they are budget-friendly, and a good way to revive leftovers.

The nutritional reasons get to the heart of the health benefits. Here they are:

1. Help to lose weight: Soup can be filling and low in calories. It can help control appetite and support weight management or even weight loss. There is research to back up this claim. One study found that the frequency of soup consumption is associated with a person’s body mass index (BMI) and the circumference of the waist. It was found that people who did not consume soup were at higher risk of being overweight or obese. Another study found that consuming soup before a meal can cut caloric intake by as much as 20%.
2. Improve diet to lower fat intake and increase vitamins and minerals: Soup consumers tend to have reduced total fat intake. The slow cooking method used for soup ensures that it retains the vitamins and minerals of cooked vegetables since you also consume the broth. Whether you are making a soup with lentils, beans or meat coupled with vegetables, you get a full array of nutrients in that delicious broth. Also, some nutrients like beta carotene from carrots and lycopene from tomatoes are better absorbed by the body when food is cooked rather than when eaten raw.
3. Help to improve heart health: Studies have shown several benefits to the heart as a result of eating soup. In the study, middle-aged and elderly adults who ate soup frequently had lower heart rates. There is also a significant decrease in triglycerides showing promising improvements to blood health.
4. Good for digestion: Unless your soup has a lot of heavy cream, most soups contain fibrous vegetables, beans, lentils, and / or meats that help with digestion. Consuming soup also has played a role in the treatment of gastrointestinal disease. It can promote healthy bowel movements, improve gut motility, combat gut inflammation, and naturally treat gut dysbiosis. It also helps boost immunity to keep stomach infections at bay.
5. Has healing properties: Bone broth is nutrition filled with essential vitamins and minerals all while rehydrating your body.  It is high in gelatin, collagen and glycine that have a natural anti-inflammatory effect. Studies have found that using chicken soup as your fluids during upper respiratory tract infections is superior. It is easy to swallow and digest which helps when you have a sore throat or poor appetite. The hot vapors warm you up and can help to clear nasal passages.
6. It is easy to adapt: Should you have serious food allergies or just a picky eater in the house, most soups can be modified to adapt to your personal needs all while providing nutritional value. Some changes can even make the soup more nutritious.

Benefits of Eating Soup with Maple Wood Cutlery and Bowls

Eating more soup can lead to a healthier lifestyle. Soup is a great source of nutrients, using maple wood cutlery will preserve all those nutrients.

All these benefits from eating healthy food can be enhanced by eating with Maple Wood Cutlery. They have 2 key health benefits to make you switch. Read more on how by reading our recent article called the “Top 2 Healthy Benefits of Maple Wood Cutlery.”

Maple wood is a hardwood that is neutral when in contact with food. It won’t react with acidic or spicy foods, allowing food to taste as it should.

This same neutrality will not alter the integrity of food.  All the nutrients of the food are preserved when in contact with maple wood, allowing them to be delivered and consumed in their entirety.

Maple wood is durable. With proper care it will last for many years.

Maple wood is anti-bacterial. The porous nature of the maple wood prevents bacteria from growing. The wood pores absorb and trap the bacteria. This prevents the bacteria from resurfacing and kills them naturally. This makes maple wood cutlery very safe.

An added benefit is that maple wood cutlery and bowls maintain the temperature of food.

Wooden cutlery will not conduct heat, transfer its state, or absorb the heat, thus not change the temperature the food.  Foods that may be sensitive to sudden temperature changes will not be affected.

The insulating factor of a bowl made from maple wood ensures the soup will stay warm longer, allowing you to take your time and enjoy your meal.

It also has a pleasant sound while eating. You will no longer hear the clatter of metal on your dishes, just the soft sound of wood. Your conversation will be the only thing you hear during your meal.

Make the switch and try our JUstenbois Perfect Poke Bowl Set – Bowl Utensil Duo.

2 of my Favourite Soup Recipes

Now that we know the benefits of soup, you are likely looking for a soup that will warm you and provide comfort. I tend to like smooth soups. There is a benefit in eating smooth soups. A 2012 study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who ate a smooth soup actually felt full for longer that people who ate a solid meal.

Based on this article, this may be because soup is high in volume, which made their stomachs physically fuller. Soup also seemed to affect blood glucose levels differently than the solid meal, which may have increased satiety.

I also tend to like soup that have a mixture of tastes that are unusual. Whether it is from the base ingredients that I add or the herbs and spices that are added to provide a different flavor to what could be a boring soup.

Both soups are made with the vegetables that are currently in season, root vegetables. This ensure that the ingredients are fresh and available.

Parsnip and Pear Soup

8 Portions

Ingredients

• 1 ½ lbs parsnips, peeled and diced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Nutmeg
• ¼ cup unsalted butter
• 3 leeks (white part only), cleaned and sliced
• 3 French shallots, finely diced
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 3 pears, pealed, cored and diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• ½ cup heavy cream
• Sea salt and black pepper

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl combine the diced parsnip with the olive oil, mixing well to coat the vegetables.
• Spread the parsnips on the baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Grate nutmeg and sprinkle over the parsnips.
• Sprinkle with a small amount of salt and pepper.
• Roast for 25 minutes, turning the parsnips at the mid-point of cooking.
• In a large pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat.
• Add leeks and shallots and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute.
• Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and keep cooking, stirring occasionally, for 4 minutes.
• Add chicken broth, roasted parsnips, diced pears, bay leaf, thyme, and maple syrup. Stir well.
• Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
• Remove pot from heat, remove the bay leaf and let the soup cool for a little while.
• Use an immersion blender to purée the soup finely, or cool slightly and purée in batches in a blender transferring the puréed soup back to a new pot on low heat.
• Add the cream and stir until it is fully blended.
• Taste the soup and add salt and pepper if needed.

Garnishing Ideas

• Garnish with extra sprig of thyme and cracked black pepper.
• Garnish with seared scallop.
• Garnish with drops of olive oil.
• Garnish with a combination of any of these three suggestions.

Carrot and Coriander Soup

8 portions

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions, diced
• 2 lbs. carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 8 cups vegetable stock
• Fresh coriander
• Sea salt and black pepper

Directions

• In a large pot, heat olive oil and sauté onions until soft and translucent.
• Add carrots, potatoes, and ground coriander. Mix well.
• Add vegetable stock, stir, and bring to a boil.
• Cover with the lid and cook on medium heat for 30 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and tender.
• Add a few stalks of fresh coriander (leaves and stalks) to taste.
• Use an immersion blender to purée the soup finely, or cool slightly and purée in batches in a blender transferring the puréed soup back to a new pot on low heat.
• Taste the soup and add more coriander, salt and pepper if needed.

Garnishing Ideas

• Garnish with extra coriander leaves
• Garnish with swirls of cream
• Garnish with both

Conclusion

Eating soup is good for the body, heart, and soul. You can make it taste even better with Maple Wood Cutlery and Bowls.

Try it and Bon Appetit!