Vegetable Power
Soups don’t need to be made with cream, butter or meat to be good. Consider this hearty vegetable soup, which is thick and rich in flavor. Mushrooms and potatoes give the soup substance without adding fat. Carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, green beans and other vegetables give the soup great flavor.
I like to top the soup with a sprinkling of fresh basil. And instead of the usual hunk of bread, I sometimes like to eat the soup with crisp wafers of Parmesan cheese that have been dry-fried in a nonstick skillet.
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Vegetable Soup
Active Work Time: 30 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 2 1/2 hours * Vegetarian * Nonfat
1 cup dried white beans
Water
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
Nonstick cooking spray
2 tomatoes, cored and diced
1/2 small head cabbage, thinly sliced (about 6 cups)
2 teaspoons salt
2 baking potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
1/2 pound green beans, cut up (about 2 cups)
Shredded basil, optional
* Bring white beans and water to cover to boil in saucepan, then reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Drain.
* Saute onion, celery and carrot in soup pot sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, about 5 minutes. Add beans, tomatoes, 12 cups water, cabbage and salt. Simmer, covered, about 2 hours.
* Add potatoes and mushrooms during last 45 minutes of cooking. Add green beans during last 15 minutes.
* Garnish with basil.
12 servings. Each serving: 101 calories; 412 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 0 fat; 20 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams protein; 1.99 grams fiber.
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Crisp Parmesan Cheese Wafers
Active Work and Total Preparation Time: 10 minutes * Vegetarian
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
* Measure cheese into 1-tablespoon mounds and place well apart in large nonstick skillet, about 4 mounds per batch. Spread each mound into thin wafer. Heat cheese over low heat until cheese melts and begins to brown around edges. Turn and continue cooking until lightly browned. Repeat to make 12 wafers.
12 cheese wafers. Each wafer: 28 calories; 113 mg sodium; 5 mg cholesterol; 2 grams fat; 0 carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 0 fiber.