Heart-Healthy Pumpkin/Vegetable/Bean Soup

This is a nutritious, delicious, and easy soup to prepare which allows you to be creative! I make it often and like to add plenty of fresh and/or frozen vegetables and beans to increase the nutrients, fiber, and potassium, and decrease the calories and sodium per serving. To save time, I often leave the baby carrots whole. Therefore, this soup tends to be thicker, chunkier [“More chew, less food”(1)], and more colorful than some creamed or pureed pumpkin soups. For a “meal in a pot” which provides complete protein, add cooked brown rice or quinoa to the soup near the end of cooking (2). Otherwise, enjoy the soup by itself, or with whole grain bread, brown rice, or quinoa on the side. Bon Appetit!

Total time: About 45 minutes

Ingredients for 12 1-cup servings:

• 3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 medium or large onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (16-ounce) bag, or 1 cup, baby carrots, cut in half (or left whole), or 2 large carrots, sliced in 1/2″ circles
• 1 cup bok choy or celery, chopped
• 2 (14.5-ounce) cans, or 1 (28-ounce) can, low-sodium diced tomatoes, undrained, or 2 pints grape tomatoes
• 2 (15-ounce) cans 100% pure pumpkin
• 1/2 tablespoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 (15-ounce) cans black, kidney, cannellini, garbanzo (chick-peas), Great Northern, or other beans, drained and rinsed thoroughly to reduce salt (Low-sodium canned beans are often available at the market), or 1 (16-ounce) bag of frozen baby lima beans
• 2 cups, or 1 (12-ounce) bag, frozen sliced red, green, yellow, and orange bell peppers and onions, or frozen mixed vegetables (corn, peas, diced carrots, and green beans)
• Black pepper to taste
• 1 cup or more of chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in large soup pot over medium-high heat.
2. Add onions, garlic, carrots, celery, and/or bok choy. Cook about 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are almost translucent and vegetables have softened.
3. Add tomatoes, pumpkin, broth, curry powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, and beans, stirring to blend ingredients. Heat soup to low boil.
4. Stir in frozen vegetables. Reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 10 minutes. Add parsley and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
5. Soup may be frozen in small batches for future meals in freezer-safe containers.

References:

1. “Ten Korean Wisdoms for Your Health”
2. Legumes provide plenty of the amino acids isoleucine and lysine, but insufficient methionine and tryptophan. Grains have the opposite strengths and weaknesses, making them a perfect match for legumes. Therefore, legumes and grains are called “complementary proteins,” i.e., two or more proteins whose amino acid assortments complement each other in such a way that the essential amino acids missing from one are supplied by the other. This is why, in many parts of the world, rice or whole grain bread is often served with beans or lentils. (Source: Sizer, Frances Sienkiewicz and Eleanor Noss Whitney. Nutrition Concepts and Controversies. Thomson Wadsworth. United States. 2008. p. 203.)