Low Calorie Soup Recipes Made With Homemade Chicken Stock

The most important ingredient in any soup is the stock. A good stock will give you a great soup. A great soup that's low in calories is your best friend. Experiment a little to add your own unique flavors and change the consistency to suit your own taste. Let's get on with it. All soup recipes serve six and hit less than 100 calories on the calorie scale.

Chicken stock, suitable for any soup, also good for a stew base...you will need...

• A chicken carcass with all the skin removed, you can buy your whole chicken and ask the butcher to remove the breast and leg meat, and use for another dish (don't worry if the carcass is the left overs from a roast, it's fine)
• 3 pints of water (may need a little extra depending on the carcass size)
• 2 crushed garlic gloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 roughly chopped carrots
• 2/3 sticks of celery chopped including the leaves
• 1 small chili, pierced
• 1 large onion
• parsley sprigs
• good pinch of sea salt
• 4/5 black pepper corns
• large pot to cook

Put all the ingredients into your pot and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for a couple of hours, you may need to top up with water now and then. Let your stock cool; strain and refrigerate over night. By doing this you will capture any fat; it will rise to the top and harden making it really easy to remove. You now have a virtual fat free stock. Freeze for later or keep reading and make yourself a soup fit for a King.

• 2 pints of chicken stock
• 1 oz butter
• 2 large onions roughly chopped
• couple sprigs of mint
• 2 lbs of fresh peas
• salt
• fresh ground pepper

Melt the butter in a deep bottomed pot. Add the onion and cook till translucent. Add the stock, peas, mint and seasoning. Cook peas till just tender; remove a few for garnish. Blitz till smooth. Serve in a large bowl with a sprig of mint and a few scattered peas. If you are having a special occasion stir in a little single cream (a 15 ml serving is only 20 calories).

• 2 pints of chicken stock
• 1 oz of butter
• 1 oz of olive oil
• 2 lbs of white onions roughly chopped
• 2 chopped celery sticks
• 1 large leek (white only) sliced
• 1 crushed garlic clove
• salt
• fresh ground pepper
• nip of madeira wine
• snipped fresh chives
• finely diced red chilies (optional)

Melt the butter and oil in a large deep bottomed pot. Add in the onions, leek, celery and garlic cooking lightly over a low heat till soft and translucent. Pour in the stock. Bring to the boil. Add in a nip of madeira (to taste) and simmer gently for 10 to 15 minutes. Season and blitz to a smooth soup. Sprinkle over chives and chili to serve.

• 2 pints of chicken stock
• 1 diced onion
• 1 1/2 lbs of skinned tomatoes (simply slit a cross at the bottom of the tomatoes, throw them in a pot and cover with boiling water, when cooled remove the skin and the hard stalk)
• 30 ml tomato purée
• fresh herbs, basil and oregano
• salt
• pepper

Put all ingredients into your pot and simmer slowly, keeping back a little basil for garnish. Blitz and serve with a little drizzle of olive oil, or 15 ml of single cream and a few small basil leaves.

• 2 pints of chicken stock
• 1 crushed garlic clove
• 6 medium cucumbers peeled
• small handful fresh dill
• salt
• ground black pepper
• 1/4 pint of natural yogurt
• snipped fresh chives and parsley to serve

Grate the peeled cucumber (straight from the fridge as the cucumber is more firm) into a bowl. Add the garlic, dill, chicken stock and seasoning. Stir together and leave in the fridge for at least a couple of hours. Better still prepare and leave in the fridge overnight. Blitz together till smooth adding the yogurt. Blitz again to mix. Serve with a sprinkle of snipped chives and finely chopped parsley. This delicious chilled soup is wonderful on warm summer days or impressive for special dinner parties.

• 2 pints chicken stock
• l oz butter
• l small onion chopped
• l large head of cauliflower ( washed and in florets)
• pinch of grated nutmeg
• ground white pepper
• ground black pepper to serve

Melt your butter in a deep bottomed pot and fry onion till soft and translucent. Add the cauliflower florets and season. Simmer till the cauliflower is just soft. Blitz and serve with a little ground black pepper and grated nutmeg. Perfect.

Soups make great lunches and snacks and are also great starters. Providing one of our five a day is just another beauty of soup. Low fat and low calorie (as above) will surely put a smile on your face. Choose your favorite vegetables and herbs. Be brazen; mix and match and you might just find the perfect combination.

Remember a good stock makes a delicious soup, and a delicious soup keeps you full without skipping any flavor, so you don't feel cheated. There's no point eating food without taste. It's not natural and it's certainly not gratifying. Tasteless food becomes a chore and will never satisfy a hungry tummy. It's far better to slurp on a tasty soup.

Yes! making homemade stock takes a little time. But don't forget where the freezer is. Make your stock and soup in bulk. That gives you a little more time. Perhaps an evening stroll, or maybe you might finally tackle a herb garden or a herb box. Please no excuses, I know them all already.

Fresh herbs, natural stock, homemade soups. That's the beginning of something wonderful. A slimmer healthier you. The perfect reason to start making your own soup.

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© 2010 Gabriel Wilson All Rights Reserved