Warm up your tummy with a bowlful of Tuscan bean soup
Tuscan cuisine focuses on fresh, healthy ingredients. And it is the uncomplicated cooking techniques that make it a traditionally delicious fare. It is pure comfort food, which is so wonderful to enjoy this time of year. These are dishes – like this colourful mixed bean soup – that you can easily duplicate in your own kitchen.
What makes this Tuscan bean soup healthy?
Chunks of hearty vegetables and plenty of beans make this soup rich in fibre – and that is good for blood cholesterol levels and your waistline. (Add more fibre to your day by having this breakfast.)
Beans are high in soluble fibre — that is the type of fibre that seems to control blood cholesterol in certain people by lowering LDL (the “bad” cholesterol).
Add in the other seasonal vegetables, like carrots, celery and pretty much whatever else you have in your fridge, you will boost the other kind of fibre – insoluble fibre. This fibre helps the intestines maintain regularity – which you don’t us to tell you how that is health!
This bowl of Tuscan bean soup is loaded with fibre (12 grams). It also has 16 grams of protein, which is great for feeling satisfied and staving off hunger later.
Serve this hearty soup with bread (like this homemade recipe) or these a side dish (like these spring rolls).
Best Health tip: Remember that canned beans tend to have added salt. Check the nutrition facts label and you’ll see what we mean. (This is how to read and understand nutrition labels.) But that is not to say you can’t use canned beans (they save you the soaking time that dry beans require). Just be sure to rinse them several times with water before adding them to this delicious bean soup.
Read more Gluten-Free Cream of Chicken Soup Replacer
Make it vegetarian by swapping the chicken stock for vegetable broth. Make it vegan by skipping the cheese.
Source: https://www.besthealthmag.ca/recipes/tuscan-mixed-bean-soup/
