Cozy Mediterranean Soup | What’s Cooking in Worcester?

This hearty and healthy #mediterranean inspired soup is sure to keep you and your family warm this winter!

What should Kelly make next?🧐 Comment your suggestions!

For more healthy recipes, visit: https://worcesterhealth.org/prevention-sidebar/42-program-section/prevention-program/1742-what-s-cooking-in-worcester

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00;00;00;00 – 00;00;10;21 Kelly Williams  In this Mediterranean inspired  vegetable soup. We packed 15. Yes,   15 plant foods that are going to help you meet  all of your health and fitness goals this season. 00;00;15;28 – 00;00;28;07 Kelly Williams 

Hi. Welcome back to What’s Cooking in Worcester. I  am nutritionist Kelly Williams and I’m here today   to show you a delicious warming and nourishing  soup that your whole family is going to love 00;00;28;07 – 00;00;36;26 Kelly Williams  Okay. We are going to get started  on our Mediterranean vegetable soup.  

And as you can see, we have all the  vegetables laid out in front of us. 00;00;36;26 – 00;00;42;25 Kelly Williams  you can mix this up with whatever your family  prefers. Today I am using carrots, potatoes, 00;00;42;25 – 00;00;43;18  Kelly Williams zucchini, 00;00;43;18 – 00;00;44;24  Kelly Williams celery, onion 00;00;44;24 – 00;00;47;09 Kelly Williams 

And a couple of surprise ingredients.  When we go over to the stove. 00;00;47;10 – 00;00;57;04 Kelly Williams  Now, whenever we’re roasting or  making a soup or anything like that,   the key to getting everything to cook the  same is to try to cut it about the same size. 00;00;57;04 – 00;01;00;16 Kelly Williams 

I’m just going to quarter this carrot.  These are really large carrots. So 00;01;00;16 – 00;01;01;22 Kelly Williams  I’m going to cut them in quarters. 00;01;02;03 – 00;01;15;02 Kelly Williams  One little tip, if you haven’t tried this  already, put an extra bowl on your counter  

When you’re cutting a lot of vegetables or  peeling a lot of things. Save yourself a   trip to the trash can. You just keep it all in one  place and then you can dump it when you’re done. 00;01;15;02 – 00;01;32;12 Kelly Williams 

If you want to be really thrifty, refer  to one of our previous episodes where I   show you how to repurpose your vegetable scraps  and make them into a delicious vegetable broth,   or put them alongside some chicken or meat  bones and make them into a chicken broth. 00;01;32;12 – 00;01;37;14 Kelly Williams 

We are moving on to our potatoes.  Again, these have been washed and peeled 00;01;37;14 – 00;01;41;28 Kelly Williams  and the peeling is personal preference. You  are welcome to leave the peel on your potato. 00;01;41;28 – 00;01;45;25 Kelly Williams 

If you’d like to just add a little bit  of extra fiber. So that’s fine as well. 00;01;45;25 – 00;01;52;18 Kelly Williams  Now we’re going to go ahead and get  our onion ready again. Red onion,   sweet onion, yellow onion, whatever you like. 00;01;52;28 – 00;01;55;06 Kelly Williams  Now, the reason we are focusing on

00;01;55;06 – 00;01;56;29 Kelly Williams  so many vegetables in this soup 00;01;56;29 – 00;01;58;07  Kelly Williams is because 00;01;58;07 – 00;01;59;07  Kelly Williams Research tells us that 00;01;59;07 – 00;02;10;01 Kelly Williams  30 or more plant foods in a week  are going to reduce your risk of  

Everything from cancer to cardiovascular  disease. It is all types of mortality. So 00;02;10;01 – 00;02;20;28 Kelly Williams  This recipe contains 15 different plant sources,   so you will be well on your way when you make  this soup to getting your 30 and one week. 00;02;20;28 – 00;02;23;18 Kelly Williams 

Next up, we have two ribs of celery 00;02;23;18 – 00;02;34;13 Kelly Williams  And just like we did with our carrots,  depending on the size of the celery,   cut it in a little half moon shapes or  cut it lengthwise first if you need to 00;02;34;13 – 00;02;40;17 Kelly Williams 

A large vegetable we need to work with  today is some zucchini. And again, 00;02;40;17 – 00;02;43;19 Kelly Williams  any vegetable you like you can try out in here. 00;02;43;19 – 00;02;46;22 Kelly Williams  So now all of our vegetables are  chopped and we’re ready to get cooking. 00;02;46;22 – 00;02;54;11 Kelly Williams 

Okay. We have our large stockpot heating  over medium heat, so we’re warming our pan,   and now we’re going to add a bit of olive oil. 00;02;54;11 – 00;02;58;04 Kelly Williams  And we’re going to give that just a moment  to warm up, and then we’re going to be adding 00;02;58;04 – 00;02;59;10 

Kelly Williams our mushrooms. Now, 00;02;59;10 – 00;03;03;01 Kelly Williams  Today we are using baby Bella  mushrooms, but you could use any type 00;03;03;01 – 00;03;07;11 Kelly Williams  Once our oil has heated up,  we can add our mushrooms. 00;03;07;11 – 00;03;15;01 Kelly Williams 

And the reason why we’re starting with  our mushrooms is because they are so soft   and they cook really quickly. So we don’t  want them to get overdone and too mushy. 00;03;15;01 – 00;03;24;14 Kelly Williams  So once they are cooked through in about 5 to  7 minutes, we’re going to transfer them out of  

This pan and just set them off to the side  to wait while those other ingredients cook 00;03;24;14 – 00;03;37;18 Kelly Williams  Our mushrooms are softened and they are  transferred out to a bowl. They’re just  

Going to hang out and wait. We can add a little  bit more olive oil to our pan. Now we’re going to   start adding all of those great vegetables  that we chopped just a few moments ago. 00;03;37;18 – 00;03;55;23 Kelly Williams  so our vegetables are in. We’re  going to give them a toss,  

Try to get everything nice and coated in  our oil. And really, when you make this,   the larger the stockpot you have, the better  you want to really try to give those vegetables   some room. We’re going to get everything cooking  down here. And the more surface area you have, 00;03;55;23 – 00;03;57;05 Kelly Williams 

The more efficient it will be. 00;03;57;05 – 00;04;07;17 Kelly Williams  So now we’re just going to give this a little bit  of time to get everything started. Softening. Just   keep giving it a stir. Every so often. You just  want to make sure nothing sticking to the bottom. 00;04;07;17 – 00;04;11;21 Kelly Williams 

For right now, we’re just kind of giving those  vegetables a little head start on softening. 00;04;11;21 – 00;04;18;19 Kelly Williams  All right. So we are going to go  in and add our seasoning. Today,   we are using paprika, sweet paprika. 00;04;18;19 – 00;04;19;12  Kelly Williams Some turmeric. 00;04;19;12 – 00;04;24;03 Kelly Williams 

Turmeric is a great anti-inflammatory  spice and some coriander. 00;04;24;03 – 00;04;25;06  Kelly Williams We’re going to add 00;04;25;06 – 00;04;26;00  Kelly Williams salt and pepper 00;04;26;00 – 00;04;29;11 Kelly Williams  we are going to add in two bay leaves. 00;04;29;13 – 00;04;34;03 Kelly Williams 

Remember, whenever you use Bay leaves, you are  going to remove these before you eat your soup. 00;04;34;03 – 00;04;42;14 Kelly Williams  And we are also going to add a sprig of  time. If you don’t want to buy fresh thyme,   you could just use about a  half teaspoon of dry time.

00;04;42;14 – 00;04;50;02 Kelly Williams  But I’m going to put a whole sprig in. And  again, same as I’m doing with the bay Leaf,   I’ll just remove this at the end. We’re  just going to use it for some flavoring 00;04;50;02 – 00;05;01;07 Kelly Williams 

I’m going to add some garlic. This is  going to be about two cloves worth of   garlic. Measure with your heart though,  and we’re going to give this a little mix. 00;05;01;07 – 00;05;03;18 Kelly Williams  Get our spices going in there. 00;05;03;18 – 00;05;05;20 Kelly Williams  Okay. And now we’re going to add

00;05;05;20 – 00;05;07;25  Kelly Williams some diced tomatoes. 00;05;07;25 – 00;05;12;12 Kelly Williams  I’m using one can of white beans.  These are rinsed and drained. 00;05;12;12 – 00;05;21;16 Kelly Williams  And this is going to give additional  fiber. It’s going to give us a bit  

Of protein. And this is part of what  makes it a mediterannean inspired soup. 00;05;21;16 – 00;05;37;00 Kelly Williams  Now we are going to add our broth. Today  I am using chicken broth. You could make   this dish completely vegetarian by using  a vegetable broth. You can make your own  

Broth or you can take some help from the store  and buy it. Already done like I’m doing today. 00;05;37;00 – 00;05;52;09 Kelly Williams  Our broth is in there. We’re going to give this  a bit of a stir. We still want this to be on  

About a medium to a medium high heat because  we want to bring it to a boil. As you can see,   my stockpot is very full, so I’m going to keep a  really close eye on this so it doesn’t boil over. 00;05;52;09 – 00;05;59;17 Kelly Williams 

Once it comes up to a boil, we’re going  to let it boil for about 5 minutes and   then turn the heat down and let it  just simmer a little bit more softly. 00;05;59;17 – 00;06;00;21 Kelly Williams  So while our 00;06;00;21 – 00;06;06;25 Kelly Williams 

Stock is simmering over there, we’re going  to get started on our finishing touch,   which is going to be some partially in line. 00;06;06;25 – 00;06;13;04 Kelly Williams  All I’m doing here with us with a bunch of parsley  is kind of removing out some of those tough stems. 00;06;13;04 – 00;06;18;21 Kelly Williams 

You don’t have to worry about the smaller  stems, but just sort of pinch off the big stems. 00;06;18;21 – 00;06;26;06 Kelly Williams  keep in mind we are trying to  get those plants in our diet.   And so I’ll just remind you that  your herbs and your spices count. 00;06;26;06 – 00;06;29;04 Kelly Williams 

So we’re going to give this a nice chop, 00;06;29;04 – 00;06;35;29 Kelly Williams  And I know that looks like a  lot of parsley to be adding,   but it is fresh and so it’s going to shrink  down once you put it in that hot soup. 00;06;35;29 – 00;06;59;24 Kelly Williams 

We’re going to leave that there and the last  element that we’re going to be adding to our   soup for a little brightness is including some  acidity. That’s really important in all of   our dishes. We need to have a fat, which we’re  getting through our olive oil and some acidity,  

Which we’re using lime today. So  before you use any citrus fruit,   it helps to get the juices flowing by,  just sort of rolling it back and forth. 00;06;59;24 – 00;07;10;01 Kelly Williams  and now we’re just going to zest. So that is  when we take just this outer layer. But when  

You do that, you of course, want to make sure  that you have already washed your fruit because 00;07;10;01 – 00;07;11;06  Kelly Williams are using this part 00;07;11;06 – 00;07;29;00 Kelly Williams  After about 15 minutes of simmering,  all of your vegetables should be nice  

And softened and all the flavors  incorporated really well. So we’re   just going to add our mushrooms back into  this mixture and let everything cook up for   just a couple of minutes. You just want  those mushrooms to get warmed through. 00;07;29;00 – 00;07;32;25 Kelly Williams 

And as you can see, this soup has a lot  of really beautiful colors in it as well. 00;07;32;25 – 00;07;47;11 Kelly Williams  That turmeric gives it a nice  golden color and while we’re at it,  

There’s one of our bay leaves. So I’m just going  to go ahead and pull that out. And while those   mushrooms are warming back up, you can look  for your other Bay Leaf or your sprig of time 00;07;47;11 – 00;07;48;27  Unknown and pull those out 00;07;48;27 – 00;07;53;08 Unknown 

And we’re going to go ahead and add our  final flavors, which are going to be our 00;07;53;08 – 00;07;54;12  Kelly Williams lime zest. 00;07;54;12 – 00;07;56;01  Kelly Williams the juice of one lime. 00;07;56;01 – 00;07;58;12 Kelly Williams  we’re going to add all of our fresh, partially 00;07;58;12 – 00;08;00;20 Unknown 

And give that a nice stir. 00;08;00;20 – 00;08;08;12 Kelly Williams  And again, look at all those amazing, beautiful  colors that we have in this 15 plant soup 00;08;08;15 – 00;08;17;17 Kelly Williams  This will be a great side dish.  Make it at the beginning of the  

Week. Save it for lunches all week  long. It’s a great plan. Ahead meal. 00;08;17;17 – 00;08;37;10 Kelly Williams  And there we have it, our Mediterranean  inspired soup that is perfect for these   cold days. You can enjoy this all week long.  It’ll keep in your refrigerator for several  

Days. I hope you love it as much as I do. For  the Worcester County Health Department. I am   nutritionist Kelly Williams. Remember to eat  healthy, be active and prevent diabetes today.