Soup Story – Low Calorie Creamy Leek Soup

Low Calorie Creamy Leek Soup – experimenting with Raw Food:

I should be doing the 5:2 Diet. I know I should be – I’ve put on a bit of weight and I’ve discovered that the 5:2 diet is a way that works for me – if I fast (500 calories) one day a week I maintain a decent weight – if I fast for two days I lose slowly!

Well my incentive to get going is actually the efforts of some of my fellow bloggers.  All of whom seem to be taking this a lot more seriously than me.  When Jac first asked me if I’d like to take part in making smoothies and juices as part of #Jumpstart15.  Initially I balked at the idea but suggested Icould make some soup.  Even so, to keep to the rules I’ve had to modify what I’d normally do, by making it vegetarian and dairy free and by keeping it low fat.  I’ve cheated just a bit by using soya cream and by including a tiny bit of oil to sweat the final leek.

I do think I’m 90% of the way there though.  And, I’m quite proud to have ‘almost’ made a raw soup.  Everything except the final leek has been cooked by processing it in my froothie which means that it is ‘raw’ (food which hasn’t been heated above 48C).  In order to remove the bitter taste of raw leeks, I had to process the mixture for around 20 minutes – ‘cooking’ everything using the friction created by the machine.  If you want to make the same soup with a conventional blender, I’d suggest softening the leeks and potatoes in a little vegetable oil before adding the cooking liquid and poaching for 20 to 30 minutes.  Soup is one of the mainstays of the 5:2 diet for me, and this particular recipe would work very well for a fast day lunch – alpro light soya cream is relatively low in calories at 72 per 100ml and there’s not much else in the mixture that would bring the calorie count up.

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Creamy Leek Soup without the Calories

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

25 mins

 

Course: Soup

Servings: 4

Author: Fiona Maclean

Ingredients

• 3 Medium Leeks trimmed and chopped into 1cm pieces
• 1/2 Medium Cauliflower broken into florets
• 1 Small Potato cleaned and diced (peeled if you like)
• 250 ml Alpro lighter soya cream or single cream
• 500 ml Vegetable stock freshly made or from a good stock cube/bouillon
• 1 teaspoon Vegetable oil I used rapeseed oil

Instructions

1. Add two of the leeks, the cauliflower and the potato to a high power blender together with the cream.
2. Blitz on full power for 15 minutes so that the mixture heats through.
3. Meanwhile, sweat the remaining leek with the oil over a low heat.
4. Then add in the hot stock to the puree, check and adjust seasoning and continue to blitz for another 5-10 minutes
5. Put the cooked leeks in the bottom of each soup bowl and top with the creamy soup
6. Season well with freshly ground black pepper.

Recipe Notes

If you don't have a high power blender, then gently stew 2 leeks, the diced potato and the cauliflower in the stock for 15-20 minutes.  Add the cream and heat through before blitzing.  Serve in the same way with the remaining leeks used to add texture.

If you are keen to eat a little bit more healthily in 2015, keep an eye out for our healthy eating posts on twitter and facebook.  And let me know in the comments below what you are planning to do to improve your diet.