Making A Sweet And Spicy Vegan Soup

Recently, I have been craving pureed soups since we are finally experiencing a bit of fall weather here in Southern California. In the past, I was not really a fan of soups because many tend to be chicken or beef broth based, and that is out because I am a vegetarian. I do eat bean and lentil soups from time to time, but these tend to feel heavy on my stomach. In the past, I always felt like the odd person out when people gushed about their fall time soup and salad cravings, and I wondered why these never appealed to my palette. I will continue to eat beans and bean soups because these contain protein, which vegetarians and vegans need, but the truth is protein and calcium can also be obtained from eating fruits and vegetables, and the high protein/low carb diets so many claim are the only way to eat do not have to be the rule of the day.

There are healthy diets that are higher on the carb side, but I prefer to make this consist of unprocessed carbs. This means I rarely eat bread, but once in a while I will eat rice or noodles. However, I prefer to eat potatoes, squash, and other carbohydrates that are unprocessed. When people talked about eating light, sweet and spicy soups, I realized I had to give this a try. Consuming a bean or lentil soup that makes you only crave one bowl, this sweet and spicy soup makes you feel like eating several. Some people like to eat small portions, but I am active riding my bike, and I have more of an appetite than that. Thus, I found making this sweet and spicy soup truly hit the spot. All these years I thought I was not much of a soup person because I always associated soups with salty and heavy afterwards, so it was quite a revelation that I could make a light soup that I wanted to eat more of. So if you are craving a vegetarian soup without beans or lentils, then making a sweet and spicy soup might be the ticket.

People are all about counting the calories, but I found that I lost weight by taking processed foods and soda out of my diet. I have always ate relatively healthy, but I do not think drinking soda was healthy, and that is one habit I regret picking up. I never drank soda until I was in my twenties and living with college roommates who drank it like I had always drank water, and unfortunately it was a bad habit I picked up along the way. Also, diet sodas are not healthy either, and I find drinking sparkling water is so much more satisfying than soda because I really only liked the bubbling part anyway. So taking soda and bread out of my life has helped me lose weight, and eating whole foods such as vegetables, fruits, and legumes on about an eighty percent vegan diet has made the pounds fall off.

I just found I could never reach my weight goals when I was eating bread, so taking it out of my diet helped. Taking that two diet derailing culprits out of my daily consumption was a way to cut calories without counting everything I ate. I find that to be absolutely boring, an as an active person who rides my bicycle and walks quite a bit, I tend to have a larger appetite. Some people can eat bread and junk food and manage to stay skinny, but I am not one of them. I still love to eat and want to consume generous portions because calorie restriction has never worked for me. So many people fail with calorie restriction and go back to eating junk food, so why repeat that cycle?

Since birdy meals are not my thing, I decided to just take processed foods out of my diet, and the results on the scale have been amazing. I have always felt energetic, but my energy levels have gone up since become mostly vegan, and sometimes vegetarian. I eat the occasional yogurt, but I find I can easily skip those as well. For anyone who wants to go vegan, there are so many options these days, and you never have to feel deprived if you decide to give up meat or animal products.

The first step for making this soup was to cut up the sweet potatoes and carrots and put these in the pan. This sweet and spicy soup is not exact, and next time I may make it a bit different. I just decided to use the vegetables and fruits I had on hand.

I cooked the vegetables in about three to four cups of water to create this flavorful soup. Once it cooled completely, I pureed it into individual portions to last over several meals. This was so much more flavorful and affordable than going out to order vegan soup. I do not have an exact calorie count for this recipe because it varies every time I make it, but it tastes good.