Featured Recipes

January 14, 2009, 5:16 pm
updated Jan 16, 2009, 11:31 am

Homemade soup = less sodium (or any dietary concern you have)

Cooking your own food is one of the best ways to keep track of ingredients. If you make it, you’ll know what’s in it.

Mom recently made this great version of Ribollita (Tuscan vegetable soup thickened with bread) from Sunset Magazine (January 2009 issue). It’s been lightened up (bread is optional) without losing any flavor; it was a total hit.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp (12 grams) olive oil
• 1/2 (92 grams) white onion, chopped
• 2 cloves (10 grams) garlic, minced
• 2 medium (176 grams) carrots, chopped in to 1/2” pieces
• 2 stalks (112 grams) celery, chopped into 1” pieces
• 1 1/2 quarts chicken broth
• 1 can (8 1/2 ounces) cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 whole (5 ounces) tomatoes in juice, quartered
• 2 cups (116 grams) swiss chard, chopped
• 4 cups (9 ounces) rough-textured day-old bread (ciabatta is good), ripped into 1” pieces
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste; we used 1/8 tsp each
• 2 tbsp (6 grams) fresh basil, chopped
• Wedge of parmesan cheese for garnish (optional)

*I’ve added this recipe to the database; however I left out the bread and parmesan cheese. Simply add those ingredients to your food log separately if you use them in the soup.

Preparation

Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook until transparent, about 5 minutes. Add carrots and celery and cook, stirring often, 5 minutes. Stir in broth and beans, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and, simmer about 15 minutes. Add tomatoes and chard and simmer another 15 minutes, covered.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lay bread pieces on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer. Drizzle with remaining 2 tbsp. Olive oil and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Toast in oven until slightly golden, about 10 minutes. Set croutons aside.

Just before serving, add basil and season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Divide soup among serving bowls and top each with a few warm croutons (we only placed 2 croutons in each bowl, tearing one in half, so it looked like 3 croutons). Grate parmesan (Kraft parmesan in the green can is not recommended) directly over soup if you like. One cup serving size, serves 7.

A few somewhat random, final thoughts: When shopping for canned tomatoes, make certain they don’t contain salt; that goes for chicken stock as well (look for added sugar too)! Did you know that hard cheeses, like parmesan contain less fat than softer cheeses and they can be used to add flavor to a dish in place of salt? This recipe would make a good example of that. Do you own a pepper mill? Have you noticed that recipes ask for freshly ground pepper? There’s a reason. Watch out for Low-Fat packaged foods, they are notoriously high in sodium. Likewise, read the nutrition label on Low-Sodium packaged foods, they are most likely high in fat and calories. More reason to get in the kitchen and cook, not simply nuke your food.

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