Posted on September 25, 2014 by Jenny Cromack

With Autmun approaching the thought of a nice hot bowl of soup on a cold evening is quite appealing. Soups are easy to make and are a great way of getting a variety of vegetables into your diet, however they can be often low in protein which we know is essential to aid muscle recovery and repair if you are an avid exercisers. Therefore, the motive8 North personal training team recommend accompanying these soup recipes with some protein such as a chicken breast, a salmon fillet or if you’re a vegi or vegan add some pulses to the soup or eat with eggs (vegi’s only!)

We hope you enjoy these soup recipes.

Spicy Pepper and Tomato Soup with Cucumber Yoghurt

Kcal 221, Protein 7g, Carbs 22g, Fat 7g, Sat 2

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to serve
• 2 onions, finely sliced
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 3 red peppers, roughly chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 red chilli, sliced
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 850ml-1 litre/1½-1¾pts vegetable stock or bouillon
• 4 tbsp Greek-style yogurt
• ½ cucumber, halved, deseeded, grated and squeezed of excess water
• a few mint leaves, chopped

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Tip in the onions, carrot and peppers. Cook gently for 15 mins, to soften. Add the garlic and chilli, and cook for a few mins more. Pour over the chopped tomatoes and 800ml of the stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10-15 mins until the veg is completely tender.
2. Meanwhile, mix the yogurt, cucumber and mint in a bowl, and season.
3. Blitz the soup with a hand blender until smooth, using the extra stock to thin if it has become too thick. Heat through, season and spoon into bowls. Serve with a little yogurt mixture on top and a drizzle of olive oil.

Spinach Soup

kcal 192, protein 6.5g, carbs 13.1g, fat 12.6g, sat 7.2g
Serves 4

Ingredients

• small knob of butter
• 1 bunch spring onions, chopped
• 1 leek (about 120g), sliced
• 2 small sticks celery (about 85g), sliced
• 1 small potato (about 200g), peeled and diced
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• 1l stock (made with two chicken or vegetable stock cubes)
• 2 x 200-235g bags spinach
• 150g half-fat crème fraîche

Method

1. Heat the butter in a large saucepan. Add the spring onions, leek, celery and potato. Stir and put on the lid. Sweat for 10 minutes, stirring a couple of times.
2. Pour in the stock and cook for 10 – 15 minutes until the potato is soft.
3. Add the spinach and cook for a couple of minutes until wilted. Use a hand blender to blitz to a smooth soup.
4. Stir in the crème fraîche. Reheat and serve.

Asparagus Soup

Kcal 101, Protien 4g, Carbs 4g, Fat 8g, Sat 2g
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 25g butter
• a little vegetable oil
• 350g asparagus spears, stalks chopped, woody ends discarded, tips reserved
• 3 shallots, finely sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 large handfuls spinach
• 700ml vegetable stock

Method

Heat the butter and oil in a large saucepan until foaming. Fry the asparagus tips for a few mins to soften. Remove and set aside.
Add the shallots, asparagus stalks and garlic, and cook for 5-10 mins until softened but still bright. Stir through the spinach, pour over the stock, bring to the boil, then blitz with a hand blender.
Season generously and add hot water to loosen if needed. Ladle into bowls and scatter the asparagus tips over each.