Heart Healthy Vegetarian Winter Soup

A hearty, vegetable based soup really would go good about now. Be it the rain, the wind, or dare I say it the soon coming snow a warming meal needs to be nearby. Rich in fibre and nutrients this weeks’ soup will fill your tank and keep you going.

As we are now into November, colder weather is nearly upon us. As the mercury drops meals gradually get denser and heavier. Soups and stews begin to play a larger role in the menu of our lives. Utilizing the tastes of the season now means squash, the pumpkin that previously lit the way for little ones on the thirty-first. Pumpkin, combined with beets come centre stage for this hearty and healthy soup.

Pumpkin has some great positives to overall nutrition. Low in saturated fats and a great source of a number of vitamins and minerals. Also low in saturated fats and high in dietary fibre, beets are a great item to include in your diet. Being main ingredients in this soup both pumpkins and beets are main contributors to the healthy nature of this dish.

Recipe

6 cups raw cubed pumpkin

3 cups cooked cubed beets

½ cup each of water, brown sugar and cider vinegar

1 1/2 cups 10% cream

½ tsp. cinnamon

1 Tbsp. sour cream

Add all ingredients with the exception of the cream to a large pot and cook on medium high heat for half an hour, purée with immersion blender

Once blended incorporate cream and mix in until uniform in colour and consistency.

Finish with a tablespoon of sour cream.

Next time the colder weather rolls in, and depending on who you trust it may not be that far from now, come back to this nutritious soup. The combination of pumpkin and beets can come together with a few additions to create this colourful late fall dish. Flavour packed and nutrient rich this creation was designed around the colder weather of this time of year.