Soups are a great way to get your vegetable intake during winter.  If you are the type of person who can’t stand eating salads in winter then going for a good quality soup is important. Home made vegetable soup is always my preference as you can usually put a great variety of fresh vegetables in there and usually lower in sodium than bought soups as one can control the amount of salt we put in. We just have to make sure we don’t cook or boil the daylights out of the vegetables as it diminishes their antioxidant levels.

It’s easy to make home made soup- I know there are plenty of recipes out there but many have slow cooking times using a large pot or crockpot and this can put many people off making their own (especially parents-they need quick dinners).
My favourite for a quick soup is steaming some vegetables for a few minutes in the microwave such as broccoli, carrots, capsicum, zucchini, butternut etc. Once they are just soft but still crunchy (not zapping the daylights out of them), put them into a blender, add a can of diced tomatoes and possibly 1/2cup water if need be. Then add a pinch of rock salt, fresh herbs like coriander or tuscan seasoning then blend until smooth. Voila! Soup in 8mins! You can serve with a wholgrain bread roll or toast and you can either have your protein to the side such as fish or chicken or put a tin of tuna on your toast. You can also slice smoked chicken into the soup or a boiled egg or add chickpeas to the soup for a vegetarian meal.

If you are looking for bought soups these are some of my favourites due to taste, limited preservatives and additives, relatively low sodium for a soup and equivalent of 2-3 serves of veges.

Cambells Sensations or Relish

Watties Soup for One

Pitango Range

Artisan Range

Delmaine’s Range

If you are watching your fat and calorie intake then just make sure you choose the tomato/pumpkin/ capsicum or mushroom based soups rather than cream based. Always compare products for energy content, fat content and sodium content.

• Whole-wheat flour (2 cups)
• Wheat germ (1/2 cup)
  
• 200 g Biltong – finely chopped
• 50 g Edam Cheese
  
• 30 ml Baking powder
• 3 Eggs
• 200 ml trim Milk
• 100 ml Cooking oil
• 5 ml Salt
• 15 ml Lemon juice
  

Combine dry ingredients together, in a separate bowl combine the wet ingredients. Then add the dry and wet ingredients together and mix lightly until all combined. Spoon into greased muffin pans and bake at 220° C for 11 minutes or until the prick test reveals the muffins are cooked (use a sharp knife or toothpick and stick it in the centre of a muffin, if it comes out clean then muffins are done). Leave to cool slightly before removing.

Makes 12