Leanne's Veggie Soup Guest Post: The SISTER Cooks Too

Today's slow cooker vegetable soup recipe: One of my sister Adanna's favorite recipes, just vegetables in a crockpot and there you go, soup! Low carb. Weight Watchers friendly.

~recipe & photo updated 2012~
~more recently updated recipes~

ADANNA's 2006 POST My sister has been gently encouraging me to write a guest post, so – DEEP BREATH – here goes!

So yes, this post is being written by Adanna, not Alanna. Yes, we're sisters. No, we're not twins. In fact, our memories are so different that some times, we wonder if we grew up in the same family. For example, Alanna claims she's the younger sister. Hmmm. My memory of that is almost four years different.

Our family has always been a little over-the-top when it comes to food. Our mom taught us about nutrition at such an early age that at about age four, I finished eating my chicken at a family dinner and announced, “There! Now I’ve had my protein!” In college, when given the assignment to plan a week’s menus for a family of four on the amount of food money given to families on welfare, I was the only one in my class who could do it.

Learning such information so young has served me well.

My kids have grown up on broccoli and whole wheat bread, and while they love pizza and fries as much as any kid, they also know about whole grains and cutting back on fat. I use lots of frozen bagged veggies, both for ease of preparation and for their simplicity – I LOVE steamed veggies with nothing more than some herbs sprinkled over top.

So my sister’s A Veggie Venture blog has definitely challenged me! I’m branching out with new-to-me vegetables (last week I bought my first turnip and felt very superior when the grocery store check-out clerk wasn’t sure what it was).

I’m also, like many of us, wanting to lose 10 pounds after the holidays. So this vegetable soup seemed perfect on all counts: lots of veggies, very filling for few calories, little fat, easy to make, and delicious! There will be a cup of this on my lunch table every day for the next few weeks.

2012 UPDATE & ALANNA's TAKE So. Um. What do I say? I made this soup twice this year, assuming it was a good recipe. And it may be, I totally trust my sister's judgment. But honestly, I found it underwhelming, especially compared to the much-similar Weight Watchers Zero-Point Soups and especially my own Master Soup Recipe, How to Make Homemade Vegetable Soup. I think it's the slow cooker, they just seem to take the life out of things.

RECIPE for LEANNE's VEGGIE SOUP

Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Time to table: 3 - 8 hours
Makes 16 cups

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
2 small celery stalks, chopped
1 medium turnip or rutabaga (for color), chopped (Update: Surprise, surprise, I've now learned, thanks to Stephencook's photos, that what I thought was a turnip was actually a rutabaga)
2 cups green beans, cut in 1” pieces
1/4 head cabbage, chopped (or 1/4 of a bag of pre-shredded slaw mix)
1 zucchini or yellow squash, chopped
1/2 teaspoon thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

6 cups low sodium broth
2 14.5 oz. cans low sodium diced tomatoes, undrained

In a stock pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook a few minutes. Add the garlic and cook a few minutes more. Add the rest of the chopped veggies, sautéing for a few more minutes. Add the thyme, salt and pepper.

Put the veggies in a crockpot, then add the tomatoes and broth. Cook on low heat for 7-9 hours, or high for 4-6 hours. Best on the second day.

ADANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
After about 3 hours on low heat, we had to try some and the veggies were still enjoyably crunchy. At that point I decided to just cook the soup for another hour on low, then refrigerate it. Since the rest of the soup will be reheated in individual portions, I wanted to retain some of the crunch.

TODAY'S VEGETABLE RECIPE INSPIRATION Adapted from Leanne Ely at SavingDinner

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Cup: 74 Calories; 2g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 456mg Sodium; 11g Carb; 3g Fiber; 5g Sugar; 3g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS WW Old Points 1 & WW PointsPlus 2

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MORE FAVORITE RECIPES for SIMPLE, HEALTHY SOUPS
~ Cabbage & White Bean Stew ~
~ Peasant Cabbage Tomato Soup ~
~ Greens 'n' All Beet Soup ~
~ more soup recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ How to Make Homemade Vegetable Soup ~
"Master Recipe"

~ Laura's Healthy Carrot Soup ~
~ Quick Cauliflower Soup or Quick Broccoli Soup ~
~ Spinach Soup with Perfect Hard-Cooked Eggs ~
~ more soup recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade, my food column

A Veggie Venture is home of 'veggie evangelist' Alanna Kellogg and the
famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.
© Copyright Kitchen Parade 2006