How did you get on with the soups? With soup having taken over my usual salad lunch, I’ve been busy in the kitchen experimenting with veggie based soups, adding pasta, beans, pulses; you can literally add anything!

 

Casseroles are also a healthy winter warmer - have you tried The Inside Out Diet’s ‘Curried bean and root vegetable casserole’? I had always thought casseroles took a bit too much time to cook after a hard day at work but I recently invested in a slow cooker which makes cooking a casserole so much easier; just turn it on before you go to work in the morning and by the time you get home you will be welcomed by the mouth watering smells of your very own home cooked casserole.

 

The curried bean and root vegetable casserole is packed full of veggies that contain a variety of flavours and textures, offering many health benefits. All the vegetables, which include swede, leek, parsnip, carrots and sweet potato, are an excellent source of fibre – great for the digestive system and low in calories. Beans are also very high in fibre and great for maintaining a healthy heart and digestive system. Another benefit of beans is that they are a prebiotic food so they help stimulate the growth of good bacteria in the intestines, which – as I’m sure you will all know – helps to promote a healthy gut!

 

I have to say, last week was the first time I made a casserole and I was pleasantly surprised, let me know how you get on!

 

[1] www.freedigitalphotos.net

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October is here and it’s that time when we all like to indulge in wintery comfort foods – but don’t forget, it can still be healthy!

 

Why not experiment with a new healthy soup? You can have so much fun with soups and experiment with a wide range of different flavours. One of my favourite vegetables to make soup with is broccoli; it’s great with blue cheese! For all you broccoli lovers out there you’ll be pleased to know that it’s in season this month - so in other words it tastes its absolute best right now.

 

Did you that that a single serving (100 grams) of broccoli will give you more than enough of your daily vitamin C allowance? And with it being packed with fibre it’s also great for the digestive system.

 

To get you going this week, why not start with The Inside Out Diet’s very own ‘Cream of broccoli & Brussels sprouts soup with almonds’ (page 38). It tastes absolutely delicious, it’s packed full of vitamins and is high in fibre, which is vital for good gut health – so all in all it’s very healthy!

 

Let me know how you get on and don’t forget to let me know if you think of any other healthy soup recipes!