Soup's On: Hearty Winter Soups

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Hearty, healthy Three Sisters Soup is an all-in-one meal. Photo By Joe Lavine

Soup is the ultimate winter comfort food, warming to both body and soul. It’s even better when it’s made from scratch using wholesome ingredients, brimming with nutrients.

Just as herbal teas extract medicinal properties from herbs, a good soup stock holds nutrients extracted from vegetables. While simmering, the vegetables impart flavor to the broth and offer up their valuable nutrients to the liquid. Homemade stock is the perfect vehicle for sneaking some highly nutritional foods into your family’s diet. Beyond the typical, everyday vegetables, several more exotic additions to your stock pot will boost nutrition even more. Try adding the Chinese herbs astragalus and codonopsis, seaweeds such as kombu and dulse, dried nettles or nutritional yeast. All are available at your local health-food store.

Three Sisters Soup

"Three sisters" refers to the wonderful combination of beans, corn and squash—foods traditionally grown and consumed together by many American Indian tribes.

Faux Chicken Soup 

This easy, well-loved soup is great with a grilled cheese sandwich. You can put it together in no time if you have vegetable stock on hand.

Thai Coconut Soup

When served over rice or rice noodles, this rich, flavorful soup makes a full meal.

Learn how to make vegetable stock.

Need more soup recipes? Check out these delicious recipes from our sister publication, Mother Earth News. 

• Eat in season with these simple, savory winter soup recipes.

• Learn the back story of Three Sisters soup.

Tanya Carwyn lives in the mountains of western North Carolina. For more great recipes, check out her website at www.kitchenmuse.biz.