Keep your resolutions with healthy, hearty soups for winter

For many of us living in the cold climes of the Northeast, the start of the year presents something of a consumption conundrum.

We vow to knock off those extra pounds racked up from our holiday indulgences and promise we'll stick to our New Year's resolutions to eat more healthily. Meanwhile, the low temperatures and shorter days find us desperately craving hearty dishes filled with carbohydrates and fats.

Scientific studies support our comfort food urges: everything from how the body takes more time to break down foods dense in calories, thereby releasing a steady flow of energy to stave off the cold, to the psychological response to seasonal affective disorder that has us reaching for mac and cheese or chicken pot pie to overcome the gloom from lack of daylight.

Happily, there is a food that addresses these conflicting inclinations: soup.

We're not talking about soups laden with starches, meats, and heavy cream, but rather soups filled with interestingly flavored broths, a wide variety of vegetables, and a dose of protein.

For starters, soup tends to be higher in liquid content than most dishes, and depending on how determined you are to cut calories, that liquid portion can range from zero-calorie water to broths made from bones and vegetable scraps that add almost no calories to the mix to canned or boxed broths that offer low-sodium and low-fat options.

Good soups also incorporate more vegetables than your typical meat-and-potatoes meal, often starting with a base of carrots, celery, and onions - referred to as mirepoix in French cooking - then adding almost any root, stalk, or head vegetable you wish to throw in the pot. It's a delicious way to get your daily dose of vegetables, and a good opportunity to slip more vegetables into your kids' diets, as well.

Soups also provide a great platform for experimenting with different flavors, from exotic world spices or fresh herbs, which again add no calories, to low-calorie flavor enhancers like bouillon cubes or anchovies. Depending on your palate, you can turn these flavors up or down to your liking.

In addition to soup's healthful potential, it's easy to make, and economical. It's a great way to use all those scraps of meat and bones, vegetables you hate to throw out. And once you've added all the ingredients, time does most of the work. Moreover, one large pot of soup will serve a gathering of eight or more people. If you don't have a large crowd to feed, soup makes great leftovers, with the flavors becoming more intense in subsequent days.

My recent healthy soup experimentation took on global dimensions. My first soup took me to Thailand, for a prawn, rice noodle, and lemongrass broth. In addition to being low in calories, this brothy variation on chicken noodle soup includes healthy additives, such as ginger, used to treat nausea; coriander, a good source of dietary fiber; and lemongrass, thought to enhance circulation. I used jumbo shrimp instead of prawns, and added a little chili sauce to give the soup extra zing. The rice noodles added welcome (and gluten-free) body to the soup. Though complex in flavors, this was the easiest of the three soups to make. And perhaps the most satisfying.

Next, my soup making took me to India. I set out to make a curry soup but wanted to avoid the usual chicken, lamb, or potato base that often is associated with curry dishes, opting instead for cauliflower. I tossed the cut-up cauliflower with sliced carrots and onions in a little olive oil and spread them on a baking sheet to roast. Roasting cut down on some of the oil normally used to sauté the vegetables while providing a beautifully nutty flavor to the end product.

Adding the roasted vegetables to the soup pot where sautéed garlic and celery were waiting, I coated everything in a blanket of curry powder before pouring in the broth. After the whole mixture cooked, I blended it into a silky mixture using my immersion blender. When the soup was done, I braved the 20-degree weather and took it over to my daughter's Philadelphia apartment, where she and her roommates wolfed it down.

For my third soup, I moved on to Europe, wishing to take a classic Italian soup - Tuscan white bean with escarole - and kick it up a notch. Bean soups are often paired with ham or prosciutto, but I was looking for something a little lighter and decided to try tuna. As I was using fish, I enhanced my mirepoix base with anchovies, melting them into the vegetables, providing a rich flavor without the overtly fishy flavor normally associated with anchovies. For extra color, I added chopped zucchini and chopped tomatoes.

Eschewing my usual route of canned beans, I gave dried beans a try. Though it meant a little more advance planning, because the beans needed to soak overnight (helped along by first bringing them to a boil), I was rewarded with more textured, flavorful beans. About five minutes before serving, into the simmering pot went the escarole, which wilted quickly, and then the tuna. The result was a deliciously rich but healthy soup.

Though January is nearing a close, the long, cold winter is still before us. I am happy to have found these soups that lend themselves so beautifully to satisfying my cravings for comfort foods while maintaining my goal of eating more healthfully.

Makes 6-8 servings

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2 medium onions, chopped

2-3 carrots, cut in chunks

1 head cauliflower, chopped in medium-size pieces

3 tablespoons olive oil

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, chopped

1-2 tablespoons curry powder (based on taste preference)

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

6 cups vegetable or chicken broth

1 tablespoon tomato paste

Salt and black pepper, to taste

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1. Toss the chopped onions, carrots, and cauliflower together with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and some salt and pepper. Spread out as a single layer on one or more baking sheets, and cook in a 375-degree oven until cauliflower has some browned edges, about 10-15 minutes. (Check on them and turn over with a spatula midway in the roasting.)

2. Meanwhile, in a large, heavy soup pot, sauté garlic and celery in 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add roasted vegetables to sautéed garlic and celery, then sprinkle the curry powder and pepper flakes over all the vegetables and sauté for another minute or two before adding the broth and tomato paste.

3. Simmer the whole mixture until vegetables are very tender, 20-30 minutes. Using immersion blender, blend the mixture until the vegetables are pureed and the soup is smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Serve with croutons.

Per serving (based on 8): 107 calories, 5 grams protein, 8 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams sugar, 7 grams fat, no cholesterol, 635 milligrams sodium, 2 grams dietary fiber.EndText

Makes 8-10 servings

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2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 carrots, diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 oil-packed anchovy fillets

1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme or rosemary

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 zucchini, diced

6 cups chicken broth

4 cups cannellini beans (canned, or dried beans soaked overnight until tender)

1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes

1 head escarole, trimmed, washed, and coarsely chopped

3 cans Italian albacore tuna packed in olive oil, drained

Salt, pepper to taste

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1. In a large, heavy soup pot, heat olive oil, then add onion, carrots, celery, and garlic, and sauté until tender. Add anchovy filets, which will dissolve into the vegetables; thyme or rosemary, and pepper flakes; sauté for 3 more minutes. Add zucchini and sauté for 3-4 more minutes, until tender.

2. Add the broth, beans, and tomatoes and let the whole mixture cook for about 15-20 minutes. With the broth at a simmer, add the escarole, stirring until wilted, about 2-3 minutes. Add the tuna, continue to cook for 1-2 more minutes, adjusting salt and pepper to taste.

3. Serve with fresh grated parmesan and crusty bread.

Per serving (based on 10): 402 calories, 30 grams protein, 58 grams carbohydrates, 9 grams sugar, 7 grams fat, 13 milligrams cholesterol, 832 milligrams sodium, 23 grams dietary fiber.EndText

Makes 6 servings

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1 large red onion

2 thumb-size pieces of ginger, peeled and sliced into matchsticks

2-3 garlic cloves

2 stalks of lemongrass, pounded with a rolling pin to release flavors, and cut into 2-inch segments

2 teaspoons olive oil

5 cups vegetable or chicken stock

1/2 pound rice noodles

1 to 11/2 pounds jumbo shrimp or prawns, shelled and deveined

2 tablespoons tamari

Juice of ½ lime

1 tablespoon chili sauce

1/2 cup of fresh coriander, chopped, and more for garnish

4 scallions, thinly sliced, reserving some for garnish

Salt, pepper to taste

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1. In large, heavy soup pot, heat olive oil and add onion, ginger, garlic, and lemongrass, plus a splash of water, and sauté until onions are translucent.

2. Add stock and bring to boil. Add noodles and cook until they are soft, (see package for timing.)

3. Add shrimp, tamari, lime, chili sauce, coriander, and scallions and cook until shrimp are tender, about 5 minutes. Adjust salt and pepper levels to taste.

4. Remove lemongrass stalks before serving. Serve with a garnish of additional chopped coriander and scallions. - From The Detox Kitchen Bible

Per serving: 208 calories; 23 grams protein; 18 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams sugar; 4 grams fat; 159 milligrams cholesterol; 1,232 milligrams sodium; 2 grams dietary fiber.EndText