Scintillating Soups

1. Scintillating Soups Why soups? Soups are an easy way of including vegetables, herbs and spices in your diet. These foods are an extremely rich source of nutrients (e.g. vitamins, minerals and phytoestrogens) which are beneficial to help protect you against cancer and to help reduce the side-effects of cancer treatment. While undergoing treatment for cancer, it is likely that you will experience some side-effects, such as nausea and digestive upsets (e.g. diarrhoea). As the vegetables, herbs and spices in most soups are already cooked, this means that soups may be easier on your digestive system than raw foods. It is for this reason that soups can be so beneficial as the nutrients in them are rapidly absorbed and shouldn’t tax your digestive system too much. It is also often easier to consume a range of vegetables in a soup, than to eat them raw – look overleaf for the ingredients in minestrone and you will see what I mean! Making your own soups is also relatively inexpensive. Including soups in your diet The great thing about soups is that they can be eaten for lunch, dinner as a meal in themselves or as a starter/entrée. They can also be eaten as a snack or sipped if you are not feeling well enough to have a normal meal. It is also a great way to include sprouts in your diet (please see Sprouting Superfoods handout) as you can add them to your soup, just before serving and essential oils. If you currently don’t eat soup, then it would be a good idea to start by introducing soups at lunch time or one lunchtime and one evening meal – try a different soup each week. Storing soups A huge advantage of making soups is that you can make them in bulk in advance of your cancer treatment and then freeze them for up to three months. By doing so, you can defrost them when you want and not have to cook when you might not be feeling like the best. So, when making a soup, make sure you double or treble the quantities – the effort is the same! Friends and family – how they can help If your friends and family have asked you how they can help, ask them to make you a soup which you can freeze. You can give them a different recipe or ask them to choose their own if they like to cook. Alternatively, they can buy you a ready-made soup, although home-made soups are generally better, as you know exactly what ingredients have gone into them – see below. Buying ready-made soups You can buy some ready-made soups from your local supermarket. Good brands include: The Covent Garden Soup Company, M&S, Waitrose and Sainbury’s fresh own brand. Please beware that many tinned or powered soups contain high levels of salt or sugar and many use reconstituted vegetables or powders, so it is best to avoid them. Many eateries make fresh soup daily, such as Pret-a-Manger, which is a good alternative to home-made soups if you are out and about during the day.

2. TOP TIP: Add a teaspoon of Udo Choice Oil Blend to help the absorption of fat soluble vitamins! Soups ½ pound dried beans (e.g. haricot beans) ½ pound diced pork 2 cloves garlic 1 spanish onion 4 carrots 4 stalks celery ½ amall head cabbage 4 springs curly endive 4-6 tomatoes ½ pound grean beans ¼ pound frozen peas 3-6 ounces wholewheat macaroni Freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley 2 tablespoons olive oil Parmesan (optional) RECIPES There are simply hundreds of recipes for soups. You could look on the internet for ideas (www.google.com) or you could visit your local bookshop and choose a book on soups that you like the look of. Below are two recipes to start you off: Minestrone and Gazpacho. The great thing about these soups, it that they contain such a wide variety of vegetables, herbs and spices. Don’t let the list of ingredients put you off, as they are both very straightforward soups to make – I promise! Minestrone Soak dried beans overnight, drain, simmer in water until soft (approximately 45 minutes). Dice pork and saute in a thick-bottomed frying pan until brown. Finely chop garlic; cut onion into quarters or eights; saute with pork until golden. Add water to cover ingredients and simmer gently with finely sliced carrots and celery. Slice cabbage, endive, tomatoes and green beans in fairly large pieces and add more water to cover vegetables. Add all vegetables, except peas; bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Add peas and pasta and bring to the boil and simmer until pasta is tender. Before serving stir in finely chopped parsley and olive oil/Udo’s Choice and sprinkle on some parmesan cheese. This soup can also be blended, if necessary. The above quantities makes enough for about 8 servings. Gazpacho Chop all vegetables into small pieces and mix in with all other ingredients. If you prefer you can blend all the ingredients, including the eggs. This soup is an exception to the rule as none of the ingredients are cooked and it is because of this that you cannot freeze this soup. It is wonderfully refreshing on a hot summer’s day. 3lbs red tomatoes 1 small onion 1 green pepper 2 - 3 cloves garlic 1 small cucumber Olive oil/Udo’s Choice – 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar – a splash ½ pint water Herbs e.g. parsley, mint, oregano Hard boiled egg