I always love the mood I’m in after the holidays. The one where I find my way out of that comfort food sanctuary I’ve been eating in and create new habits to cut pounds. Are you looking to say hello to healthy meals again too? Follow me to the simplest and most valuable way to shrink those calories and feel better now. Make, eat, and store healthy meals with spectacular vegetable soups! 

Great cooks know there is no recipe for the ‘best’ vegetable soup. You need to come up with your favorite ingredients on your own. The best way to do this is to go to your veggie vendor (the store), grab a few of your favorite fresh veggies, wash and cut them up, then boil them in plenty of water. Add a little salt and pepper, and remember to cover your pot with a tight-fitting lid. Retaining the moisture will help flavor the water with the vitamins and nutrients needed to stay winter healthy. 

Back to your recipe, unless you want mush (use a blender if you do), you’ll want to buy firm vegetables and cut them into small bite-sized pieces. More firm cuts like carrots or green beans go in the pot first since they take longer to cook. Add kale, collards, celery, and cabbages next. Take the time to sauté a few onions, garlic, cilantro, and peppers if you like them. These will be your seasonings (and your house will smell like a slice of heaven as a bonus). 

I like to add peas, corn, potatoes, or tomatoes last since they take the least amount of time to heat. Use potatoes for creamier soups and tomatoes for hearty stews. Add asparagus, beans, lentils, spinach, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts – the list is endless. Whatever makes your taste buds smile will magically make your calories count towards more nutritious, healthier meals too.

Most vegetables benefit us with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. They are the garden’s gifts for improved lifestyles, fighting radical cells, and warding off inflammation, cancers, and other chronic diseases. Cooked in a soup, veggies are tasty, hydrating, stress-relieving, weight-reducing, and bone-strengthening super-heroes. Vegetables can lower your risk for heart disease, stroke, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and much more. They even help your skin and nails glow. Yes, glow. What more could you want in a bowl?  

Happy January and a happy, healthy, after-the-holidays to you all!  

This article first appeared in the Traveler Weekly Newspaper January, 2023