Why I Avoid Canned Soup
Since my recent graduation from Purdue University, I have become a stay-at-home wife. This is only a temporary state of being as I adjust to my surroundings and scout out jobs, which takes time. Nevertheless, my extra time at home allows me to do what I love most - cook! I have been cooking in some capacity 2-3 three times a day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.Since I was old enough to work, I have always packed my lunch, unless I worked at a restaurant. This routine was instilled in me through my dad who always packs a lunch meat sandwich for his day at the factory. Though this small and simple lunch does the trick for my dad, it is not enough to sustain my husband or me at work. I need food, real food. Plus, I like my food to taste good, and a plain lunch meat sandwich just doesn't cut it. We have tried a few different options throughout the past few years from Hot Pockets (I know they are terrible for me) to soups and sandwiches.
As mentioned prior, I am addicted to food porn, and on a daily basis, I read food articles. I also watch shows like Chopped and Good Eats from Food Network. A couple of months ago, these shows became available on Netflix, and I went through them to find episodes unseen. One of the episodes was about how Alton Brown had lost fifty pounds by changing his diet to healthier options. He makes lists of foods he eats daily, weekly, occasionally, and never. Now, I am not this dedicated. It feels too constricting to eat the sames food over and over again.
However, one of the foods on his Never to Eat list caught my attention - canned soup!
Never before had I realized that canned soup is so utterly bad to consume. It seems healthy. It has vegetables, is low on calories, and helps curb my appetite. Yet, no matter what canned soups I looked at, they were extremely high in sodium.
Sodium or salt is everywhere. It is bread, cereal, tortillas, lunch meat, and almost anything not found in the produce aisle at the grocery store. It is ridiculous how much sodium is hidden in food most of us eat on a daily basis. Loving myself and my body has really taught me to take better care of it and that means being conscious of the food I eat. If you do not already, read your nutritional labels. You will be surprised how much sugar and sodium are hidden in food.
I bring all of this up, because it is winter, and I love a good soup and salad combo. Brett and I had picked out cans of soup to eat for lunch, and then, after realizing my nutritional error, I did not want to put that much sodium into my body every day. One can of soup was over a third of my daily sodium consumption.
Thus, I have now started making homemade soup!
First of all, making homemade soup is much better for multiple reasons.
- I can control all the ingredients that go into it.
- I can control the sodium level.
- I can make it taste much better.
- I can try new and creative options.
- They are easy and quick to create.
Yes, lunch can be healthy, filling, and taste great! Sometimes you can have it all.
I have made many soups the past few weeks: creamy sweet potato soup, turkey gnocchi soup, vegetable tortellini soup, and the list goes on. Craving something different but warm and hearty, I decided to make broccoli cheese soup this week.
I call this "healthier" broccoli cheese soup, because in the end, there is still cheese in the soup, so it's not what some would solely healthy. Yet, I love cheese, and after making many brothy soups, I wanted something thicker. The problem with this soup is that most recipes call for a lot of whole milk or half n half. Some even call for processed cheese food, and I cannot stand the taste of processed cheese anymore (once I stopped eating it for awhile, I realized it tastes like plastic and chemicals - gross!). So I created my own version, which is now my favorite soup I have made so far!
Making Healthier Broccoli Cheese Soup
Here are most of the ingredients you will need. The carrot and Worcestershire sauce are not pictured here. The Worcestershire sauce was a last minute addition but made a huge difference in the taste, so I highly recommend it. If you cannot tell, I am still mastering the art of photographing my cooking process; it is usually much less planned and measured.Yay rah for new challenges!
Dice up your onion and potatoes. I used red potatoes, but any kind will work. Heat up 2 tbsp of butter in a dutch oven or large pot. Then, add the potato and onion to the pot. Saute until the potatoes are tender. I added a little chicken broth (enough to cover the bottom of the pot) and put the lid on to quicken the cooking time.
Shred a medium carrot. Add 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil or another type of oil if that is all you have, even butter will work. Add the carrot and broccoli to the pan. I used 3lbs of broccoli, because I wanted a chunkier soup. You could always use less if you want.
Salt and pepper to taste. My soup needed a decent amount of both, but it is up to you.
Serve and enjoy some tangy, cheesy, broccoli goodness! Mmm delicious!
Healthier Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe
1 medium yellow onion diced4 Tbsp of butter or olive oil
4 medium red potatoes diced
2 1/2 cups of low sodium chicken broth
1 cup of milk (I used skim)
1 carrot shredded
3 lbs of broccoli
3 cups of extra sharp cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp honey Dijon mustard
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
- Heat 2tbsp of butter or olive oil in a dutch oven or large pot. Add the red potatoes and the yellow onion to the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Saute for until potatoes are tender, and stir occasionally to keep potatoes from sticking (I added a little chicken stock to the pot to help steam the potatoes).
- Remove potatoes from the pot and put in a blender. Add 1 cup of chicken broth and 1 cup of milk and blend until smooth and creamy. You can also use an immersion blender for this, but you will still need to remove the potato mixture and put it in another bowl after you blend it.
- Heat 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil to the dutch oven. Then, add the shredded carrot and 3lbs of broccoli. Saute until tender. If you use frozen broccoli, once again add a little chicken stock or water to let the broccoli steam and thaw out. You will only need enough to coat the bottom of the pot.
- Once the broccoli is softened or thawed, add 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth, the honey Dijon mustard, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, and the extra sharp cheddar cheese.
- Gentle stir in the potato mixture you made earlier. Stir occasionally until all the cheese has melted.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. (My soup needed a decent amount of both.)
- Enjoy your delicious soup!
