Fall colors, cozy evenings and delicious plant based soups!

Soup is such a wonderful thing – most freeze beautifully, re-heat with ease, are chocked full of good veggies and make a quick and healthy meal in minutes. Often though, canned soups are full of sodium, preservatives, and nutritionally aren’t that great. And can be pretty pricey! When cruising the super market isles for healthy soups, make sure to check out how much sodium, fat, protein and fiber are included. You want to choose a soup that has lots of veggies, without a ton of ingredients you can’t pronounce, and have fiber and protein included (think beans, lentils, veggies). Or you could just make your own…Enter the homemade, plant-based soup.

With cooler days and chilly nights here, soup is truly a go-to meal. Pairing any soup with a side salad, kale quesadilla, roasted veggies, or some flax seed crackers completes the meal. When making home-made soup, try to think seasonally – fall’s vegetables are in full bounty so butternut squash, acorn squash, pumpkin, apple, leeks, broccoli, mushrooms, beets, carrots, potatoes….all delectable ingredients to make hearty and scrumptious soups.

For the past two years, I’ve been hosting an annual Plant-Based Soup Swap  where friends and guests bring their homemade soups to swap, all leaving with 6 different, plant-based soups! Recipes are shared, so those favorites can be made again, and each person explains a bit about why they chose to make their particular soup, offers their experience in cooking the soup, and describes what they thought of the turn out. It’s a wonderful day where health is promoted and soup takes the center stage.

If you’re looking for a quick, healthy lunch, dinner or snack that is cost-conscious and delicious, try your hand at plant-based soup. And if you’re in the Denver, Colorado or Arvada area, join me at this years’ soup swap for some delicious plant based soup goodness. Reserve your ticket today!