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Article by Christine Zellers, MPP- Rutgers Cooperative Extension, Family & Community Health Sciences
Looking for a fast and nutritious meal this fall, homemade soups are a good option. Soups can be premade on the weekend and taken to work or school for lunch, heated up and served with a salad and whole grain bread after work for dinner or even used as a quick warm breakfast for a wake-up change of pace. Canned soups are an option if time is limited but be sure to choose low sodium options. The Dietary Guidelines for American’s recommends adults keep sodium intake to 2300 milligrams per day, a high sodium can of soup may take a good portion of daily sodium intake so try low-sodium, or sodium free or make a batch of soup yourself. Weekend meal prep is a good way to make healthy eating all week long much easier. Soup can be a weekend prep meal or put into a crock pot to cook while at work or other activity. Try making extra and freezing it in freezer bags or containers and then you can build a stock of various soups to choose from in a given week throughout the colder months for a quick meal.
What’s so great about soup? If you make soup yourself, you can add several of the food groups into a one meal pot. Making soup yourself also allows you to control sodium amounts, you can use fresh or dried herbs to replace sodium and fresh vegetables to make soup great tasting. When you think about making a homemade soup look for recipes that contain a variety of healthy ingredients like seasonal produce, fresh herbs and lean or plant-based protein. Try fun and different ingredients like apples or cider for a tangy fall soup. Things like quinoa, rice and lentils are a good addition to soups to add flavor and nutrients. Butternut Squash soup is hardy and tasty in the winter months and large batches can be frozen to use later. Tomato soup is great with sandwiches or salad at the end of a long day and will be quick and easy to prepare and clean up if made ahead of time. If you have leftover vegetables from other meals, you can create a vegetable soup and utilize leftovers well. Don’t forget to add protein like beans, chicken, ham, shrimp or beef to the meal to make it hardy and filling. White beans added to tomato soup gives it a little kick of protein and more substance. If you make ham for dinner and have some leftovers add the extra ham to bean soup. Keep low sodium broth in the kitchen to put a soup together from leftovers in a flash . Eating meals that are full of vegetables like soup will fill you up and add nutrient dense servings of veggies to your day. You can find healthy meal ideas on the Rutgers Cooperative Extension Webpage at: https://njaes.rutgers.edu/fchs/
Autumn Squash Soup
Ingredients
1 extra-large butternut squash (peeled & cubed)
2-3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 15 oz. can 100% pureed pumpkin
1 ½ cups apple juice or cider
2 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
1 ½ cups 1% milk or almond milk
2 Tablespoons honey
1/3 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Salt & pepper to taste
Roasted pumpkin seeds for garnish (optional)
Preparation Steps
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Peel squash, remove seeds & cut into chunks. Place cut squash in baking dish & drizzle with oil, then sprinkle with salt & pepper. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until fork tender.
- Mash squash with a fork or potato masher & place in a large stock pot. Add canned pumpkin, apple juice/cider, milk & vegetable broth. Puree ingredients with an immersion blender until well mixed. Add honey, turmeric, curry, cinnamon, salt & pepper (if needed) & heat through about 15 – 20 minutes at a low simmer.
- To serve, garnish bowls of soup with roasted pumpkin seeds. Enjoy this hearty soup!
Note: Adjust liquids based on the size of the butternut squash. If the squash is smaller, decrease the liquids. If the squash is very large you may have to increase the amount of liquid