Healthy Living Starts With a Hearty Meal of Stew and Soup

by Alesha Wilson
(Wilmington, NC)

Enjoying your life means being able to obtain good food whenever you want. For some people, eating healthy is difficult because they are limited by their budget and their cooking skills. What these people don’t realize is that there are ways to eat a hearty, healthy meal without spending too much and putting too much effort into the cooking part. You can always cook stews and soups without trying too hard.

Both these dishes can help you keep warm on chilly evenings, and they are only slightly different. Here are some of the differences.

Soups are runny because they are water-based. Soups also contain significantly lower amounts of spices compared to stews. Some people prefer thick soup, and this consistency is obtained by adding milk, cornstarch, bread crumbs or a whole slice of bread. There are also cold soups, which are great for cooling down in the summer. In some soups, the water and milk are replaced by fruit juices to vary the flavor. Soups are quicker to cook than stews, which means the best soup base is meat stock because there’s no time to add other flavorings.

Here’s a good soup recipe you can try:

Cauliflower and Broccoli Soup

2 packs of frozen cauliflower
2 packs of frozen cut broccoli
1 pack of frozen corn
2 teaspoon dried dill
3 cans of vegetable broth
American Cheese, cut into cubes
3 tablespoons of Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil and sautee the vegetables for two minutes on high heat. Add the dill after the vegetables have been semi-cooked. Boil and simmer the vegetable broth in a separate pot. Add salt and pepper. Add the vegetables. Stir in the cheese until melted.

This is a good comforting soup for those who don’t have time to cook a complicated dinner.

The best stews are thick and have more ingredients. Unlike the soup that is often served as an appetizer, the stew is a part of the main course. Stews are served hot and never cold. The thick consistency of the soup means the person should eat it as soon as it arrives because the gravy might coagulate during cooling. Stews can be stored inside the refrigerator and reheated in the microwave without much variation in flavor. You can add as many ingredients as you want, like potatoes, carrots, chickpeas and other vegetables.

Like the soup recipe above, you can sear or sautee your choice of meat (chicken, pork, beef, lamb, etc.) in a few teaspoons of oil. The difference is that these meats need to boil and simmer for more than an hour for the flavors to infuse into the stew. Sauteeing or searing the vegetables can be done separately, so that they aren’t overdone. Vegetables, thickeners and spices can be added during the simmering period.

Alesha Wilson is a staff writer at RockwellNutrition.com. Get Rockwell Nutrition paleobar df by following the link.