Trying to stay fit is a challenge that a lot of us face and I have been

struggling with weight issues for a long time now – excess weight and excess

body fat as well. Up until a while back, the only focus for me was exercise.

Moderate workout 3-4 times a week and I ate everything that my heart desired.

Recently my husband and I decided that we need to re-look our diet so we are

trying a low/no carb diet. The basic idea is to consume less calories than you

burn each day and choose your calorie intake from low glyceimic index foods –

which translates to a high protein diet, loaded with lots of vegetables and

minimal carbs.

As scary as it sounded to a carboholic like me, it’s not that difficult

actually. We really watch what we eat for 6 days of the week and one day is our

day off. A day to hog and eat all we like and want to eat. And then back to the

diet. This coupled with the same amount of exercise as before is showing

promising results already. Probably what we’re doing is a bit extreme but the

results are visible. And there are wonderful technology enablers to help you do

this effectively. There are smartphone apps which will help you to track your

calorie consumption and exercise and recommend a daily calorie intake based on

your weight loss goals.

So far the exercise has been a lot of fun. In addition to the results

on the scale, I am always excited by the challenge of creating something new,

different and healthy. Vegetables and fruits used to make up a small section of

my refrigerator but things have changed a lot. All meals are loaded with

vegetables and fat consumption has gone down. There is a lot of stuff I have

tried in this duration and I will bring it to the blog one by one. I’ll start

with a soup that has become a staple in my kitchen. It is consumed happily once

or even twice a week. It’s very healthy, quick and easy to prepare. Loaded with

vegetables, protein and lots of flavor, this is a must try.

Some things to note on this one is – I prefer to grind my own chicken

because that way I am assured that I am using low fat high protein meat. This

soup can be made vegetarian just as easily by skipping the chicken meatballs

and substituting vegetable broth for chicken broth/stock. Of course one can add

tofu at the end as well and add more vegetables than this recipe. But since

this is a chunky soup, be choiceful of the vegetables used and the stage at

which they are added to the soup. I generally like root vegetables in my soups

and prefer to avoid vegetables like

bell peppers, zucchini etc which may get too soft and mushy in the soups. If

these need to be added however, add them towards the end of the cooking process

so they continue to retain their bite and flavor. When adding stock, make sure

you adjust the amount of salt in the soup as readymade broths tend to be fairly

salty. Adding herbs and spices to the chicken meatballs and the soup itself

will always add extra flavor which makes every sip and bite more delightful. This

recipe is amazingly flexible and you can change it any way you like.

Ingredients:

For the meatballs:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into big size cubes

1/3 cup onions, finely chopped

1 tablespoons chopped coriander

1/4 cup chopped fresh spinach

2 tsp Italian spice mix

1 tsp sundried tomatoes, finely chopped (optional)

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

1 egg

Salt & pepper to taste

1 cup carrots, diced

1 cup green beans diced

½ cup onion, finely chopped

½ cup celery, diced

1 ½ cups fresh spinach, washed and finely chopped

2 tsp fresh thyme or ½ tsp dried

1 liter Chicken stock or 1 liter water + 2 cubes of chicken stock

1 tsp olive oil

Salt & pepper to taste

Method:

1. In the large bowl of a food processor, add all the meatball

ingredients except the egg and grind till the chicken is minced evenly and the

other ingredients are also incorporated well. Take this out into a bowl, add

the egg and mix well to combine the ingredients evenly.

2. Put a pan on medium heat and add the olive oil and all the

vegetables except the thyme and spinach. Sprinkle a little salt and cook the

vegetables till they are slightly tender 3-5 minutes.

3. Then add the chicken stock to it or the water and chicken cubes.

Stir well and bring to a boil. Once the soup starts to boil rapidly, reduce the

flame. I don’t like vegetables to be very soft, if you do like them soft, boil

for another 3-5 minutes.

4. Take spoonfuls of the chicken mince mixture and drop it into the

soup one at a time trying to shape it like round balls (as much as that is

possible). Try not to take too long to do this else some of the meatballs will

cook much longer than the others and may become a bit hard.

5. When all the meatballs have been dropped into the broth, wait for a few to surface to the top. Add the

chopped spinach and thyme, cover with a lid and cook over very low flame for

about 7-10 minutes.

6. Remove the lid and adjust seasoning, turn off the flame and let the

soup sit for 5 minutes. Ladle into bowls and serve hot.