Low Carb Hearty Vegetable Soup (Stew): Vegetarian and Meaty Versions

This SUPER easy soup, or stew as it is more accurately called because of its thickness and heartiness, has lots going for it! It's very nutritious, rich in veggies, low in calories, and delicious. You can make changes based on what vegetables you have in the house or what your nutritional goals are; I'll give variations at the end for those who'd like it to be lower in carbs or want to add meat.

I adapted this recipe from here; I made the cooking process easier, took out the oil and the potatoes, added cauliflower, and simplified some measurements. I changed the thickening agent by taking out the flour and subbing cornstarch. I also used Recipe Calculator to figure up the nutrition information, which I am including at the end.

Hearty Vegetable Stew

1 1/2 c. chopped onions
2 minced cloves of garlic
1 c. sliced carrots
1 c. sliced celery
4 c. fresh mushrooms, halved or quartered
1 c. fresh cauliflower florets cut into bite sized pieces
1 can of diced tomatoes (14.5 oz) and their juice
1 can of kidney beans (15 oz), drained and rinsed
1 small can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 c. water
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 bay leaf

Throw all this stuff in a big soup pot, give it a stir, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 30 - 40 minutes or until the vegetables are tender, stirring once in awhile.

When everything is nicely cooked, mix

1/4 c. water
2 Tbsp cornstarch

in a cup with a fork until smooth. Pour this into the simmering stew and stir well. Add

1/4 c. red wine

and keep stirring. Raise the heat if needed to return to a simmer; cook and stir for about 5 more minutes. Remove the bay leaf, add salt and pepper to taste, and you're done!

This recipe makes 6 servings according to the original; I measured my soup and got about 9 cups total, so 1/6 recipe = about 1.5 cups per serving.

One serving (1.5 cups) contains

156 calories
1 g fat
29 g carbs
7 g fiber
7.7 g protein

If you want to reduce the carbs further, leave out the beans and add some meat instead and then each serving will have 17 g carbs. You could add beef stew meat but I think extra lean ground beef would be excellent in this! Even if you leave the beans in, a half pound of browned and drained lean ground beef or maybe some turkey sausage would be an excellent addition. The beans make it quite hearty as it is, though.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did!