Souper Cheap Healthy Meals

I'm sitting here typing this while I eat my third bowl of soup, soup is an amazing food, it's comforting, it's filling, it can be hot or cold, creamy or brothy, or somewhere in between, it's really easy and you can make it with any flavors and ingredients you have on hand.

Today my soup was inspired by my kids favorite version of macaroni and cheese, with tuna and peas in it, I wasn't in te mood for a cheese soup and my son wanted couscous in it so I grabbed a can of cream of chicken soup, a can of tuna, frozen peas and whole wheat couscous.  I dumped in the can of soup and two cans of water, I only wanted it a little creamy, about a cup of frozen peas and the can of tuna, water and all and put the burner on high.  While I was waiting for the soup to come to a boil I threw in plenty of seasonings: Mrs. Dash, lemon pepper, ginger, garlic, onion powder, paprika, chile powder and some lime juice because I was craving citrus.  As soon as it cam to a boil I stirred in a heaping 1/4 cup of couscous, turned off the stove and waited 5 minutes for the couscous to cook.  VOILA!!!  Totally healthy, yummy, filling soup in only 10 minutes.  It would have been cheaper if I had simply added some milk and chicken bullion but I was out of milk and the soup was a nice shortcut.


Tuna and Pea Soup with Couscous

• 1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup or milk and Chicken bullion's or broth
• 1 can of Tuna in water
• 1 C frozen peas
• 1/4 cup heaping of Couscous
• Season as you prefer, if using a new spice or seasoning be sure to start with just a tiny bit until you get the hang of how much you like.

You could make the whole thing for just over $1 or a little over $2 depending on if you use the canned soup and what seasonings you use.  Makes about 5 servings at about $.25-$.45 per serving.

A few other great soup recipes:

Minestrone

• Tomato Juice
• pasta, like macaroni, shells, wheels, farfalle, etc.
• beans, like kidney, black eye peas, white, pinto, etc.
• frozen veggie mix, I like the green bean, carrots and pea mix
• Onion, diced and sautéed in the pan before adding the juice
• Water
• Herbs and Spices, to your taste.

You just need to add enough water for the pasta so that it doesn't make the soup too thick but you can cook the pasta separately or let it get thicker, it's up to you.  It's really that easy.

Spinach and Bean Soup

• Water
• Milk
• White beans or Black eye peas
• frozen Spinach
• Celery Seed, just a dash
• Herbs and Spices how you like

I actually used cream of celery soup the first time I made it but it tastes great with the milk and celery seeds too.  If you have a little one who loves the color green, like my son, you can puree the thawed spinach with a little water for a nice green color.

Chili

• Taco Seasoning Mix
• Cooked Beans
• Tomato Juice
• Ground Beef, Turkey or Chicken
• Onion

Cook up the meat and onion then add the taco seasoning and let it heat up a bit to really bring out the flavor, add everything else, bring to a boil and you're done.

Cheesy Roasted Potato Soup

In a previous post HERE

Feel free to post your own favorite soup recipes in the comments.