We’ll say it if nobody else will, “soup season is never over.” Sure, there are heartier soups and stews with ingredients that lend themselves to colder months, but you can enjoy soup year round. For example, you can enjoy a cold gazpacho in the summer or a creamy zucchini and potato soup in the winter. In the case of this recipe, it makes for a great appetizer or light entree. After cooking the ingredients, blend them together to make a velvety soup that seems to intensify in flavor with each spoonful you eat.

Unlike traditional mushroom soup recipes, this one calls for portobello mushrooms. Some would argue that they are the undisputed mushroom champs, but that is not a decision for us to make. Portobellos are mature cremini mushrooms that exhibit a more intense flavor profile and meatier texture. That’s why you commonly see them as burger patty replacements. They are naturally low in calories and offer 15 different vitamins, minerals, and antioxidant compounds. Some of these nutrients include selenium, copper, vitamin D, and B-vitamins.

Some of the phytonutrients in portobello mushrooms help to boost the immune system by charging up white blood cells. These mushrooms also contain antioxidants that may help reduce inflammation and and improve cardiovascular health. Now, is eating this soup going to make you the healthiest person alive? No, but it tastes great and can be a great addition to your healthy diet, especially if you are trying to watch your caloric intake.

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After dealing with a bad case of indigestion or food poisoning, the first foods you reach for when you’re ready to eat are simple and easy to digest. Nobody has the desire to wolf down a double cheeseburger after dealing with stomach issues. More often than not, you choose plain crackers, soup, bread, or rice to remedy symptoms. 

A common theme among easy to digest foods is that they are low in fiber, fat, and flavor. They lack acidity, spice, and are usually soft or easy to chew and swallow. Eating foods that are harder on the digestive system may worsen symptoms, so you choose foods that are more digestible to give your digestive tract a break. Digestion requires energy, which includes mechanical and chemical energy processes like chewing or the work done by acid in the stomach. 

By choosing foods that are easy to digest when you don’t feel 100%, you give your gastrointestinal (GI) tract a break. Your body has to work a little less hard to carry out the digestive processes. That is what you want if you experience diarrhea, indigestion, vomiting, or other digestive issues. Continue reading to learn about some of the easiest food groups to digest when your digestive system isn’t in the best shape. 

Well-Cooked Vegetables

Raw vegetables can be harder to digest than cooked vegetables. When you cook vegetables, their plant cell walls soften and their starches become readily available to enzymes in the digestive system. That makes for an easier digestive process. Consider cooking the following vegetables if you need easily digestible healthy options: 

• Spinach
• Green beans
• Carrots
• Zucchini and squash (seeded)
• Beets
• Potatoes (peeled)

Peeled Or Stewed Fruits

Just like raw vegetables, fresh fruits are high in fiber, which can make them tougher for the body to digest. Because the bulk of dietary fiber in fruit exists in peels and seeds, health experts suggest eating peeled and seeded fruits after dealing with an upset stomach. It can be beneficial to choose fruits lower in fiber, such as ripe bananas or melons, especially if you struggle with diarrhea or nausea. If you choose to eat fruits like pears and apples, remove the skin. Softer fruits like stewed peaches or plums are also good options if you have an upset stomach.

Soups, Smoothies, And Purees

The way you prepare food can influence how your body digests it. Texture modification strategies, such as blending, doesn’t change the fiber content, but it can reduce the size of fiber particles in plant-based foods. That’s why smoothies, soups, and purees are much gentler on the digestive system. Raw kale, for example, is bulky and tough, while cooked or blended kale is soft. The change in texture allows for easier digestibility. The same goes for berries and other fibrous fruits, which you can enjoy if you blend into smoothies. Blending or pureeing these plant-based foods essentially pre-digests food, which takes the majority of the work away from your digestive system. 

White Flour Products

After a bad bout of food poisoning or general GI discomfort, you usually choose white foods, including rice, bread, and plain crackers. As you know by now, high-fiber foods can be difficult to digest if you’re experiencing abdominal bloating, diarrhea, or nausea. White bread, white pastas, and white rice, although not the healthiest foods, have had their fiber components removed. You can temporarily choose these foods to enjoy when dealing with digestive problems, but don’t eat them regularly. 

Soft Proteins

Animal proteins don’t contain fiber, but they are difficult for the body to digest, especially if they are rich in fat, tough, or chewy. Choose softer, easy-to-chew proteins that are low in fat. Scrambled eggs, smooth nut butters, and soft tofu are nourishing options that are typically easy to digest.

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It’s easy to say that a nutritious bowl of raw vegetables is nutritious. How do you turn a bunch of raw vegetables into a delicious dish, though? Some people say that it’s easier said than done, but say, “No problem.” If you have some vegetables and don’t want to eat another salad on the raw vegan diet, a great alternative is a raw soup. Additionally, this soup is a great alternative if you have extra zucchini don’t want to eat zoodle dishes any more.

Just like making a smoothie, all you have to do is cut up your vegetables and blend them together. Unlike a smoothie, you will add a few things that would not taste great slurping through a straw. For example, this raw soup contains fresh dill, garlic cloves, coconut aminos, and sea salt. The best advice we can give you is to use the fresh dill, not dried dill. The soup will be much less aromatic and flavorful without that fresh herb. We promise you that it is 100% worth it to seek out fresh dill, even if you have the dried version in your spice rack.

One piece of advice that we have for you is that you may want to wait to make this soup until the weather is a little warmer. It can be very refreshing when the sun is out. A pro raw vegan tip is to blend the soup for a few minutes on high to naturally warm it up. Don’t worry, this does not cook the vegetables; rather, the high-speed revolutions can naturally warm up the blended mixture. This is just something to consider if you take a liking to raw soups like this one.

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Some bowls comfort the soul, others leave you wanting more flavor. Fortunately, you don’t have to go out to eat if you want to enjoy this gut-friendly miso soup in a much healthier way. You can quickly and easily make it at home and omit the tofu!

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Carrots are one of the most beneficial and easily accessible root vegetables in existence. They are in just about every grocery store and come in a variety of colors, although you most commonly see them in their orange form. Speaking of this orange color, it indicates the presence of beta-carotene, which converts to vitamin A in the body and serves as a powerful antioxidant. Is a creamy vegan carrot soup incredibly tasty? Absolutely, but it is also a nutritious meal option that helps you absorb the vegetable’s numerous health benefits.

When the weather is cold, nothing beats slurping up a tasty soup. Unlike other creamy or meat-heavy soups, this soup contains ingredients that all work to enhance immune function. Whether you feel a cold coming on or are trying to get over a sore throat, this soup is the perfect choice. Carrots contain phytonutrients that enhance the body’s defense mechanisms, making it more resilient against infections. The high vitamin C content in carrots also stimulates the production of white blood cells, enhancing overall immune response.

The great thing about this soup, besides the health benefits, is that it is easy to whip up. It doesn’t make a whole lot of soup, but there will be enough for two people to have large bowls. You can also serve three to four people smaller bowls to accompany their main courses. Some people like to include more non-dairy milk in their soup recipes for maximum creaminess, but the potatoes help create a luxuriously creamy consistency that you’re guaranteed to love.

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If you have ever eaten at a Japanese restaurant, then you are probably familiar with miso soup. It is a classic starter, but not every restaurant hits it out of the park. Although some bowls comfort the soul, others leave you wanting more flavor. Fortunately, you don’t have to go out to eat if you want to enjoy this gut-friendly soup in a much healthier way. You can quickly and easily make it at home and omit the tofu!

Before we continue, we recommend that you purchase properly prepared miso for the highest quality soup and flavor profile. Miso contains a lot of probiotic benefits, and making it from scratch means that you get to avoid the additives and excess sodium that this soup is often associated with. What sets miso apart from other soy products is that it is a fermented sources of soy, similar to natto and tempeh. Fermenting soybeans yields a completely different set of nutrients! For this reason, you can enjoy miso, natto, or tempeh to promote better gut health.

There are three primary types of miso that you can purchase, including red, white, and yellow/bronze. Red miso has a longer fermentation process, which gives it the bold red color. White miso has a slightly sweeter flavor profile and is more refreshing. The yellow/bronze miso is simply a mixture of those two, so you get to enjoy both flavor profiles. This soup calls for white miso, and it also contains the added benefit of higher vegetable content. It consists of mushrooms, onion, garlic, ginger, and collard greens.

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Canned condensed soup is very popular around the holidays. There are also people who enjoy these creamy soups year round, but they are incredibly unhealthy. They are filled with unhealthy fats, excess sodium, added sugars, and too many preservatives to count. If you are vegan or dairy-free and want to enjoy these soups, good luck because they do not really exist. That’s why this article is dedicated to providing you with a how-to guide on how to make vegan condensed soup substitutes. 

In this post, we will share all of the best cream of soup tips, tricks, and recipes for gluten-free, vegan versions. When you have these available to you, many culinary feats become possible. You can make vegan pot pies, green bean casserole, and who knows what else. These vegan substitutes will truly enhance your winter comfort food game in more ways than you know. 

The key to “veganizing” classical non-vegan casseroles is to use vegan condensed soup substitutes. You can make a big batch and freeze what you don’t need. Whenever you do need some, simply defrost it and it’ll be good to go!

What Is Condensed Soup?

Condensed soup is basically just regular soup that you cook or simmer down until almost all of the water has boiled out. That yields a thick soup that you can later reconstitute with water or milk. Campbell’s Soup Co. created this concept back in 1897, and this revolutionized the soup industry. Condensed cream soups have been the basic recipe of butter, wheat flour, heavy cream, and whatever “cream of” ingredient is in the title, for example, mushroom, broccoli, or chicken. 

The vegan substitutes in this article break all the conventional rules. They only contain natural ingredients and they don’t include flour, cream, and butter. Plus, you don’t have to wait hours for your pot of soup to boil down!

What You’ll Need To Make Condensed Soup Substitutes 

There are some different recipes in this article, but the basic ingredients you’ll need are as follows:

• Water
• Red lentils (dried, not canned), which give the soup that almost gelatinous, “cream of” consistency
• Flavor, which will depend on the variation you make
• Raw cashews add great creaminess and fat to condensed soups. You can also replace raw cashews with raw sunflower seeds if you have a nut allergy. Just make sure to add one tablespoon of olive oil to the blender if you use seeds. 

How To Make Healthy Vegan Condensed Soup

The process to make the soup is very simple, but the soup can take a little while to set. You can easily make a double batch of condensed soups and freeze some for later. In general, the following steps will yield excellent vegan condensed soups:

• Step 1: Add all of the ingredients to a medium saucepan and bring to a full boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer (covered) for 10 minutes. You basically want to overcook the lentils and soften the cashews.
• Step 2: Carefully transfer your soup mixture to a high-speed blender and start blending on low, slowly increasing the speed to blend the ingredients into a creamy consistency. 
• Step 3: Once your mixture is luxuriously creamy, transfer it to three or four eight-ounce mason jars and screw on the lids. Make sure to take precautions as the when you do this and once the soup has completely cooled, press down on the center of the lid to seal the jar tightly. 

Vegan Substitute For Cream Of Chicken Soup

Get ready to make vegan renditions of classic casseroles from your childhood with this recipe. It is perfectly healthy, dairy-free, and vegan, and it comes together in just about 20 minutes with five simple ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups water
• 1/2 cup dry red lentils
• 1/3 cup raw cashews
• 3 tablespoons vegan bouillon powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions:

• Add all of the ingredients to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to simmer, cover, and continue cooking over low for 10 minutes. 
• Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend until smooth, stopping to scrape the sides as needed.
• Pour the mixture into eight-ounce mason jars and screw on the lids. Let them cool completely before placing them in the fridge or freezer for future use. 

Vegan Cream Of Potato Soup

Dairy-free condensed cream of potato soup is great to thicken other soups, stews, casseroles, and creamy sauces. 

Ingredients:

• 2.75 cups water
• 1.25 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 cup dry red lentils
• 1/3 cup raw cashews
• 1 tablespoon dried onion
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 tablespoon sea salt
• 1/8 teaspoon celery salt

Instructions: 

• Add all of the ingredients to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to simmer, cover, and continue cooking over low for 10 minutes. 
• Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend until smooth, stopping to scrape the sides as needed.
• Pour the mixture into eight-ounce mason jars and screw on the lids. Let them cool completely before placing them in the fridge or freezer for future use. 

Vegan Cream Of Mushroom Soup

This is a much healthier alternative to the canned variety that you are familiar with. It works great with crockpot or casserole recipes, boasting incredible depth of flavor. In fact, you’ll be shocked at how similar it tastes to the original!

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups water
• 1 cup mushrooms, chopped
• 1/2 cup dry red lentils
• 1/3 cup raw cashews
• 1.5 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt

Instructions:

• Add all of the ingredients to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to simmer, cover, and continue cooking over low for 10 minutes. 
• Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend until smooth, stopping to scrape the sides as needed.
• Pour the mixture into eight-ounce mason jars and screw on the lids. Let them cool completely before placing them in the fridge or freezer for future use.

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Soups can comforting and nourishing, especially when vegetables are the stars of the show. Some soups, especially canned varieties, are incredibly unhealthy because they contain unhealthy fats, excess carbs, and too much sodium or sugar. After a day or weekend of unhealthy eating, the last thing you want is a warm bowl of soup that makes you feel fat and bloated. That’s why we created this recipe! It contains a ton of nutrient-dense vegetables and it is low in calories.

Many of the vegetables in this soup contain anti-inflammatory properties, which work to reduce pain and inflammation. Detox soups, such as this recipe, are very easy on the digestive system. As a clarification, a detox soup is not some boring cabbage soup diet from the 1980s; rather, it is a tasty bowl of nutritious ingredients and flavors. The ingredients are often rich in fiber, which helps move food through the digestive tract to regulate bowel movements. The vitamins and minerals also work to provide valuable antioxidants, which help fight free radicals and oxidative stress in the body.

Other than chopping the vegetables, this soup is very easy to make, but it does take a little time. You begin with a classic mirepoix, which is the combination of onions, carrots, and celery. Only you take it up a notch with this soup by including sweet potatoes. Once those ingredients are soft, you can add the tomatoes, beans, broth, and continue seasoning with sea salt and pepper. The seasoning process happens throughout, so be sure to taste and add a little more sea salt and pepper (if necessary) as you go. Happy detoxing with this soup after some heavy holiday eating.

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A lot of people look forward to the Thanksgiving feast for months. Is it a healthy holiday? Absolutely not, but people excuse themselves from diet restrictions on Turkey Day to gorge on the impressive spread. Between the casseroles, turkey, stuffing, pies, mashed potatoes, and endless selection of other sides, it’s safe to say that you can easily rack up the calories. In fact, the Calorie Control Council estimates that the average American consumes about 4,500 calories during the Thanksgiving feast alone. That doesn’t even include the rest of the day!

Just in case you were wondering, 4,500 calories is more than double the recommended daily calories you should consume in a day. Research has shown that Americans experience an average weight increase of up to 0.2% over Thanksgiving, and 0.4% over Christmas. That may not sound like a lot, but the average person doesn’t lose that weight either. Year after year, this can accumulate and cause a lot of weight gain. 

While there are certain dishes that you can only get on Thanksgiving, exercise moderation and control when you encounter these foods. Most foods are on the “naughty list,” dietarily speaking, but that doesn’t mean you have to avoid them entirely. Enter the Thanksgiving feast with a game plan and do your best to control your portions, especially in regards to the following unhealthy dishes. 

Stuffing

People love to gobble up stuffing, which is nothing but a calorically dense, carbohydrate-rich, fattening side dish. It does taste good though, right? Most people use store bought stuffing mixes, which contain preservatives, excess sodium, and processed ingredients. Plus, stuffing often contains bacon, giblets, and sausage, which can increase the calories to 500 per cup. Many people often eat more than two cups, accounting for 1,000 calories with one dish. Get a small portion, or make stuffing a little healthier by using less meat in your stuffing. Consider reducing the butter content by 50% and using lower-calorie and lower-sodium ingredients as well. 

Green Bean Casserole

You either love it or you hate it, but green bean casserole is a staple on many holiday tables. It’s a vegetable dish, so how can it be unhealthy? Even though it may be the only green you see on the Thanksgiving menu, it tends to contain 200 calories, 22 grams of carbs, 8 grams of saturated fat, and 574 milligrams of sodium per serving. Keep in mind that most people use canned creamy soup and fried onions, increasing the sodium, fat, and calorie content. If you do make it, try to use fresh green beans and low-sodium soup to keep the sodium down. 

Pecan Pie

Perhaps the most calorically-dense item at the Thanksgiving feast, pecan pie tends to be a family favorite. You may want to rethink your dessert choice, now that you know a slice of this pie contains over 500 calories and a ton of sugar. Gut health experts agree that pecan pie is one of the worst food options at Thanksgiving. Try something a little lighter, less buttery, and less sugary for dessert. Baked apples with cinnamon topped with Greek yogurt are quite lovely!

Macaroni And Cheese

Traditional mac and cheese recipes call for milk, butter, piles of cheese, and potentially more milk and butter. Plus, you have the enriched flour and carbs from macaroni. That means that this staple side dish can topple over the 1,000-calorie mark per serving. It’s difficult to lighten this serving, but you can do it. Use smaller amounts of flavorful cheese like sharp cheddar or pepper Jack, and consider supplementing with reduced fat cheese. Add vegetables like chopped cauliflower or cubed butternut squash to your mac and cheese to replace some of the pasta. 

Candied Yams

For some people, Thanksgiving is not complete without a dish of yams topped with golden-brown marshmallows. Unfortunately, this dish contains about 450 calories per serving due to the artery-clogging fat from all the cream and butter. Plus, the processed, sugary marshmallows only add unhealthy preservatives and chemicals to the mix. There are so many ways to make this sweet potato dish a lot healthier! Use low-fat milk and flour for thickening instead of using heavy cream. Lastly, make a lighter, crunchy topping with some chopped pecans and a few pinches of brown sugar. 

Mashed Potatoes

Potatoes have an impressive nutritional profile, but the copious amounts of butter, cream, and milk make mashed potatoes quite an unhealthy dish. In fact, an average serving of mashed potatoes contains 400 calories. Drizzle a hefty amount of gravy on the potatoes and you raise the calorie count by 200. There are so many alternatives to mashed potatoes that offer more nutritional value, so long as you skip all the butter and cream. Opt for mashed cauliflower or a combination of potatoes and root vegetables like parsnips. Celeriac is another great potato alternative!

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There are many things to love about Thanksgiving, and overeating is not one of them. It’s safe to say that most people eat enough carbs during the big meal to last them an entire month. Between the stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, pie, and other carbs, the Thanksgiving meal accounts for more than 3,000 calories and nearly 160 grams of fat. Those numbers are based on a full-on binge, and even though it only happens once a year, other factors like sodium and sugar can take a toll on your health. 

You don’t have to overindulge just because it’s Thanksgiving. It’s just so easy to add delicious options to your plate! We get that, but is it worth it to feel bloated and sick? Nutritionists suggest that it is better to choose smaller portions first and then go back for seconds of the foods you enjoyed the most. How exactly do you eyeball the right-size portions, though? Well, we have a little cheat sheet for serving sizes of the most common holiday dishes. Hopefully, this information helps you better navigate how much food you put on your plate. 

Mashed Potatoes

Is the Thanksgiving meal complete without mashed potatoes? Potatoes offer some health benefits, but all the salt, butter, and cream that goes into mashed potatoes renders them unhealthy. Not to mention the fact that people drown them in fattening gravy. Ideally, you will only serve yourself a half-cup of mashed potatoes, which registers 119 calories and 18 grams of carbs. Sticking to a scoop that is roughly the size of a 25-foot tape measure is best for your help. 

Gravy

You can’t have the aforementioned mashed potatoes without gravy, right? Some consider that a sin! People get carried away with gravy, ladling it over the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and even the occasional slice of pie. Nutritionists recommend the serving size for gravy to be no more than one-quarter cup, which is about one-and-one-half shot glasses. Gravy can be very high in sodium, so take it easy with the ladle, especially if you need to keep an eye on your blood pressure. 

Green Bean Casserole

Some people cannot let Thanksgiving happen without green bean casserole, while others don’t care for it at all. Vegetables are not usually the issue at Thanksgiving, but they are when you smother them in mushroom cream sauce and packaged fried onions. An eight-ounce can of cream of mushroom soup is very high in sodium and fat. The average green bean casserole yields about 735 milligrams of sodium and five grams of fat per cup. If you serve this dish at your Thanksgiving, try to keep the portion size to one cup. You can also go a little healthier, foregoing the cream of mushroom soup and fried onions and simply sauté green beans in olive oil with garlic, onions, and lemon juice.

Pie

There is never a shortage of pie at the Thanksgiving table. One could say that there are too many pies available to everyone. Desserts sneak a lot of extra calories, sugars, and carbs. A standard slice of pumpkin pie clocks more than 300 calories, not including whipped cream or cream cheese frosting. A slice of apple pie is very comparable, calorically speaking, but pecan pie is the densest and contains nearly double the calories. For a slice of pumpkin or apple pie, one slice is sufficient (about the size of a kitchen sponge). Cut that serving size in half if you go for pecan pie. 

Stuffing

Stuffing is like the mystery meat of starches, in that recipes vary so much (nutritionally speaking) depending on how you prepare the dish. Some people just use the classic box of stuffing mix and add in some onions, carrots, and celery. Others make their own croutons from whole-wheat bread and incorporate more vegetables, herbs, seasonings, nuts, and homemade vegetable stock. So many stuffings, however, contain tons of butter, bacon, sausage, duck fat, or even lard. This is not a dish that contains a lot of fiber or healthy nutrients. For that reason, nutritionists recommend the serving size be a half-cup.

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