Instant Beef Soup - Adapted for Low-Sodium, Low-Fat Wheatless Diets

Anyone aiming for a healthy diet should avoid packaged convenience foods if possible. Most packaged convenience food contain higher levels of fat and sodium than are recommended, to boost the flavor burst when the grub hits the tongue.

If your dietary restrictions require low-fat, low-sodium and wheatless you're just about required to make it yourself.

Shelley MacDonald Beaulieu, who is "Changing the world, one roast chicken at a time" at http://oneroastchicken.wordpress.com, recently read the nutrion information on the label of a brand of instant beef soup. The high fat content convinced her on the spot to work up a recipe from scratch in order to continue to pack soup for lunch with a clear conscience. Her adaptation dropped the fat content from 11 grams in the commercial packaged brand to 1 gram in her own version, made twice a week.

Lowering the fat that much is great, but her version leaves the sodium content high and relies on Asian-style wheat noodles (ramen).

To reduce the sodium, the "beef broth made with concentrate or powder" in her recipe should be replaced with low-sodium low-fat commercial beef broth, or beef broth made from scratch.

To make the recipe wheatless, the ramen noodles should be replaced with rice or soba noodles.

The rice can be whatever variety or style you most like: white, brown, basmati, long-grain, medium-grain. Varying the type of rice from one batch to the next would be one way to keep the recipe interesting.

Soba noodles are made from buckwheat, which despite its name is unrelated to wheat. It is not a grass, like other grains, and is only a minor commercial crop in the United States although beekeepers frequently plant it to provide forage for their hives. Most of the buckwheat grown in the United States ends up in commercial mixes for buckwheat pancakes that also include wheat flour.

If soba is not available in the ethnic section of your local grocery store, it is readily available online.

Homemade instant beef soup, low-sodium low-fat wheatless version

2 C low-sodium low-fat beef broth, either commercial or homemade

1 C low-sodium low-fat chicken broth, either commercial or homemade

1/4 C frozen peas

1/4 frozen corn

2 C cooked rice
-OR-
4 oz soba noodles, cooked

Put first four ingredients (beef & chicken broth, peas & corn) in a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let sit for about ten minutes. Add EITHER the rice OR the soba noodles. Divide into two plastic containers, let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate.

Additional Resources:

Shelley MacDonald Beaulieu. "Transcript > Reading labels" Associated Content. URL: (http://oneroastchicken.wordpress.com/2007/03/28/transcript-reading-labels/)

"Buckwheat" Associated Content. URL: (http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/crops/Buckwheat.html)