Add Vegetables to Your Diet With Good for You, Very Veggie Soup

For years, the US Government relied on a food pyramid graphic to explain nutrition to consumers. But the pyramid received lots of criticism and many consumers found it confusing. Now this symbol has been replaced with a simple dinner plate graphic. The dinner plate is divided into four sections: fruits, vegetables, grains and protein.

The fruits and vegetables section takes up half of the plate. The message: You need to eat more of these foods.

Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick describes the graphic in her article, "Food Pyramid Out, 'My Plate' in for Healthy Eating." As she explains, "Gone are the old pyramid's references to sugars, fats or oils. What was once a category called "meat and beans" is now simply 'proteins.'"

Andrew Martin links the plate graphic to the nation's obesity crisis in his article, "Government's Dietary Advice: Eat Less," published in "The New York Times." Martin points out that many Americans are eating too many calories each day, "expanding their waistlines and imperiling their health." He goes on to say the previous nutrition guidelines asked consumers to curb sugar, solid fats, and salt, but failed to urge consumers to eat less over all.

Vegetables are packed with vitamins, fiber, and they fill you up. How can you add more vegetables to your diet? I sneak vegetables into meat loaf and chili. My family loves stir fry so I fix it often. Combining vegetables, such as onions, zucchini, mushrooms and baby tomatoes, also makes them appealing. But making vegetable soup is one of the best things I've done lately.

Sure, the supermarket shelves are stocked with canned and dehydrated soups. When I read the ingredients list, however, I find things like soy protein, which I'm allergic to, and additives I can't pronounce. Making soup from scratch gives me, and you, control over the salt, vegetables, and flavor. And this soup recipe is flavor-packed.

The ingredients list calls for dried Italian herbs. A jar of herbs that has been on the shelf for months will have lost its punch, so use herbe you have purchased recently. I used a combination of oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme, and rosemary. To bring out the flavor of the herbs, rub them with your hands before adding them to the soup.

The pasta in the soup will continue to absorb moisture in the refrigerator. So you may need to add additional chicken stock or water to leftover soup. Serve the soup with French bread and fruit for dessert. You're well on your way to getting the fruits and vegetables you need in a day. Here's my original recipe for Good for You, Very Veggie Soup.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
6 cups lower sodium chicken broth (more if needed)
2 celery hearts, chopped
3 small carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 large beefsteak tomato (or 2 Roma), chopped
1 cup frozen green beans
1 cup frozen peas
1 teaspoon lower sodium salt
1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (more if you wish)
1/2 cup small pasta (little tubes, stars, elbows, etc.)

Method

Pour oil into soup pot. Add onions and saute for two minutes. Add all vegetables and seasonings. Cover, bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in tubetti pasta. Cover again and simmer, stirring every so often so the tubetti doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Cook until pasta is done. Makes 8-10 servings.