According to Colorado State University, the average American does not consume enough fiber a day. Adding fiber to your diet helps improve your health. When you desire to eat more fiber, it may become challenging to find ways to add it to your daily meals. The simple addition of fiber-rich foods to dishes, such as potato soup, helps add fiber to your diet without feeling as if you are forcing it. Potato soup does not have to be unhealthy, and the variety of ingredients that you use can make the dish a healthy addition to your diet.
Wheat Flour
Replace white flour in potato soup recipes with whole-wheat flour to make the dish higher in fiber. When you replace this type of flour, you will hardly notice a difference in flavor or texture. The University of Missouri extension recommends replacing 1/4 to 1/2 of the white flour with whole wheat. As an example, replace 2 cups of white all-purpose flour with 1 cup of whole-wheat and 1 cup of all-purpose flour. The addition of whole-wheat flour makes the potato soup richer in fiber without changing any of the other ingredients.
Vegetables
Many vegetables are high in fiber and add flavor and texture to potato soup. Vegetables to consider adding to potato soup include carrots, broccoli, peas, celery and more potatoes. When you add potatoes to the soup, leave the skin on the produce because the skin adds fiber. Cutting the vegetables into smaller pieces helps prevent the soup from becoming too chunky. Select a vegetable that you enjoy the most and add it to the dish incrementally. Taste the potato soup after it cooks for a few minutes and adjust the amount of vegetables as necessary until you have the desired taste and consistency.
Grains and Pasta
The University of Arizona states that people need to consume six to 11 servings of breads, rice, pasta and cereals a day. Three of these servings need to contain whole grains. The addition of grains and pasta to potato soup adds a significant amount of fiber. Only add pastas and grains that are high in fiber such as brown rice, whole-wheat pasta and barley. When you alter the potato soup recipe, you may need to experiment with the amount that you add to the dish. Grains and pasta often expand when they cook, so add a minimal amount at first. Instead of using crackers in the soup, you may elect to toast whole-wheat or rye bread and crumble it onto the top of the dish.
Beans
While beans may not seem like a traditional ingredient to add to potato soup, they are higher in fiber than many other types of foods. Great northern beans work well in potato soup, but you can substitute them with cannelloni, Lima beans or navy beans. If you decide to add raw beans, do not forget that they expand in size once cooked. For best results, add a can of cooked beans to a potato soup dish so that you do not alter the consistency of the soup a lot. Do not cook canned beans for too long because they may become mushy.
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