Spoon yourself healthy (and possibly slim!)

I'm getting better at keeping up with my blog these days!

You might also notice that I've put some neat categorised Quick Recipe archive on the left tab of the page to make it easier for all of us to locate the recipe (yes, including me).

Today's post is rather general-ish, and it's about my ongoing obsession of eating (or you might call drinking) soup for both lunch and dinner. I love having soup because it's very simple to make, very healthy and really - this might sounds rather controversial - but I spoon myself to sliminess with homemade soups while occasionally splurging on dark chocolates and sweet treats! I'm sure the basic reason on why I got slimmer is because of the good healthy stuffs that I eat and the fact that I get fuller faster with the soup, thus reducing the chance that I overeat! Anyway this seems to be working - the more I eat at home, the healthier I am and the easier my effort is to keep my weight on track.

The very good thing about having soup for meals is that the high water intake will help us to get fuller faster and longer. Moreover it's free from oily stuffs (although most of my stir-fry dishes are made up of very little oil). Also - you can put a variety of 'good food' ingredients in your soup, like vegetables (Chinese cabbage is my favourite), mushrooms, wholewheat pasta, egg and meat/seafood ingredients. I've always liked meat rolls that Chinese hotpot restaurants serve, and so I bought the whole big pack of Pork Rolls from Oriental supermarket and stuffed them in my freezer. I normally use Baby Button Mushrooms because they are cheap and perfect in size - I just need to slice them in two before putting them into my pot. Tomatoes are good as well - the tomato flavour and juice will spice up your spoon and gives your soup a tomatoish flavour. Tomatoes in soup go great with eggs!

There are a lot of varieties of ingredients that you can mix in to create your own soup. Below is the picture of what I'd call a veggie + seafood soup marinara!

Veggie + Seafood Marinara Soup

The most simple way of making the soup mix is do it the oriental style. I simply boil around 400 ml of water, add chicken cubes (Knorr), and wait until the liquid boils before adding the stuffs in! You might also want Teriyaki sauce for some flavouring, or simple salt and pepper will do too!

I also put wholewheat pasta in, I strongly believe in the goodness of complex carbohydrates. My new favourite is Conchigliette wholewheat pasta for kids (yes - for kids). I found mine from ASDA.

Cooked Conchigliette wholewheat pasta

Below is what I just had for my late lunch/ early dinner!

Pork Roll and Conchigliette Soup

Basic Oriental Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

• 400 ml of water
• Knorr chicken cube (or other brand) (1 cube)
• Teriyaki sauce (optional) OR salt/pepper to add to the taste
• Fujian cooking wine (Chinese/Japanese cooking wine) [OPTIONAL]
• Chinese cabbage (5 leaves, chopped)
• Pork Roll for hotpot (from Asian supermarkets) OR can be changed to seafood stick/fish balls/beef balls/ diced chicken breasts
• Egg (preferably free range and organic - 1)
• Wholewheat pasta (approx. 50 grams)

How to Prepare:

• Cook the pasta, drain and separate in a bowl
• In a small saucepan, boil 400 ml of water
• Put the heat to medium
• Add the chicken cube, stir until completely dissolved
• Put the Chinese cabbage in, wait for around 4 - 5 minutes
• Put around 15 small pork rolls (or see substitute) in (to your liking), stir and wait until pork rolls have turned to grey cooked colour
• Crack the egg in, and carefully stir (I prefer not to break the egg's yolk) and wait for 3-5 minutes
• Splash two tablespoons of teriyaki sauce in or give more salt/pepper/seasoning
• Pour over the pasta, mix and ....
• SERVE!

How easy! And how nice and warm for the winter days! If you're living in a hot climate - this dish would also be very nice after a long day of work or study. It surely will replenish and freshen up the mind and body!

LOVE. the one by two kitchen.