The FastDay Forum

Hit me with your best recipe. I love soups, but can be hard to find the right ingredients to keep it low kcal.

I make my own chicken stock and from that put in whatever veggies I have hanging around. Green veggies are great: broccoli, kale, zucchini. You can also add onion, carrots, celery. Maybe a few beans that I keep in the freezer. Any kind of spice. A little hot pepper is great for fasting. Some folks will put everything in the blender.

How I make chicken stock -- I bake a chicken and instead of throwing out the bones, I put them in the freezer. When I have enough bones collected, I put them in a stock pot with water, carrots, bay leaf, onion, celery, parsley. Cook for three hours and strain. Very simple.

French onion soup. Chop 5 onions and then put them in a 2 litre saucepan to sweat with a very little butter for 5 minutes. Mix in a dessert spoon of flour, then add two stock cubes (I use beef) fill the pan with water. Heat to boiling and then simmer for an hour. Serve with a little grated cheese (I use Gruyère). As with many things, it always tastes better the following day!

might give the onion soup a try, sounds nice!

For a quick filling soup I cheat &buy the packs of ready prepared soup veggies from the supermarket add some stock made from stock cubes & 1/2 hour later tuck in!

Franglaise - that sounds yummy, will have to give that a go soon. Feast day for me today (think I saw your pic in the Fasting Today thread earlier too) - so it's sounding particularly good at the moment

French onion soup. Chop 5 onions and then put them in a 2 litre saucepan to sweat with a very little butter for 5 minutes. Mix in a dessert spoon of flour, then add two stock cubes (I use beef) fill the pan with water. Heat to boiling and then simmer for an hour. Serve with a little grated cheese (I use Gruyère). As with many things, it always tastes better the following day!

Fasting today and your recipe for soupe à l'oignon is setting off hunger signals, haha. Better go back to work!

Hi! I found this recipe in a Finnish sports magazine. It's a kale and spinach soup, recipe makes 4 portions, 58 kcal a portion. Lovely green soup!

100 g fresh kale
50 g fresh spinach
1 onion
a bit of ground cumin
1 tsp oil
1/2 dl plain flour
9 dl water
2 veggie stock cubes
3 tsp lemon juice or dry white wine
salt and ground black pepper
chopped coriander to garnish

rinse and chop kale and spinach, chop onion
heat the oil in a saucepan, add the onion and cumin
add the flour and stir, add water while stirring continuously
add kale, spinach and stock cubes
season
let boil lightly for about 5 min
(I normally whizz it smooth in a blender)
add coriander

I make a leek&ginger soup. With a base of celery onion and leek, simmered in a little water+a couple of sprays of olive oil. Once onion is soft, add lots of sliced leeks and a couple of teaspoons of grated ginger (cheats box from the supermarket), stock made with veg bouillon, and simmer for about 15 mins. Puree if you like it smooth

keep them coming, sounds yummy! Gonna fast again tomorrow so gonna make soup!

Throw some frozen mushy peas into a pan with a small chopped onion. Add a Knorr Herb Infusion or vegetable stock pot, cover with water and bring to boil. When peas are cooked, add some mint and blitz to your desired consistency. You could also add a bit of chopped ham or bacon; maybe add a touch of half fat Creme fraiche at the end?

Just posted one as a new topic - Easy Peasy soup and greens.97kcal per 300ml portion.

I make soup from chicken pieces and loads of veg, pepper and a stock cube, but I haven't been able to use it on fast days, because I don't know how to calculate the calories from the chicken. I take the meat off when the pieces are cooked and add it in when the veg is done, meanwhile I simmer the bones and skin to get as much of the tasty goodness out of them. I strain off as much of the fat as possible, and freeze it to use when I am frying chicken breast instead of or with cooking oil. But I don't know how many calories are in the stock

Meanwhile here is a good cheat for soup. I like to steam carrots and swede or parsnip and mash it (for fast days, swede is lower cal than parsnip), I have it with a meal and freeze the left overs in portion sizes.

The simplest fastest cheapest vegetable soup
Take a tin of supermarket value vegetable soup.
Throw in left over veg,
Grind in some black pepper
Add a teaspoon of paprika
and a little bit of cheese or butter.
(the oils help absorb fat soluble vitamins)
Bung it in a microwave and just enjoy.
This works with veg mash, peas or even left over kidney beans.

For broccoli, I have found cheese and pepper works well.

Mine is based on a Delia Smith recipe, and while not quick, it is so simple.

Just chop any veg you have, in my case this will always include onions, carrots, butternut squash and cabbage. Add stock and any herbs or spices to taste, bring to the boil, then put into the oven at about 150 degrees for 1 to 2 hours (as I said, not quick!)I weigh the veg to work out the calories, and usually a huge pan is only about 600 calories. When all the veg is soft, puree. I measure it equally into containers and freeze it. A pan makes 3 or 4 big bowls. You can add red lentils to thicken and to add protein, or I often add frozen sweetcorn when I defrost it, for the extra fibre.

Chop a large handful of fresh herbs & leafy greens e.g. bok choy/pak choy & Italian parsley.

Boil the kettle.

A few tablespoons of dark red miso paste into a soup bowl, pour boiling water over & stir till it is dissolved. Add chopped herbs/veg. Stir & eat.

I think about ~100cals (I don't count them), red miso is apparently 27cals per tablespoon.

High on the umami front, so very satisfying & super quick. Red miso paste available in most supermarkets here, I get mine from the local asian grocer who has a line of Japanese foods & keep it in the fridge. Just check the label, some of the brands have added MSG & other yucky numbers.