Welcome to Simply Souperlicous!

Veggies are yucky!

That’s what my two children used to say when they were younger and whenever I would present them with any type of vegetables during meals. I couldn’t blame them too much because I’ve always been a very picky eater as well. In effect, I too, had convinced myself that I wasn’t a very big fan of vegetables.

As busy mom working long hours in digital; coming home at inconvenient times, almost certainly ensured that I would prepare my children some sort of frozen, prepackaged dish or offer some fast food options. That changed back in the fall 2016. I’d just dropped off my oldest kid at college (she survived childhood) back in the US. For the first time, I took a long, hard look at myself in the mirror. I wasn’t too happy with what I saw. This isn’t fat shaming. I was completely happy with not being the same weight (my slimmer, svelt self) prior to getting married and birthing tiny people. What disappointed me was the fact that I always felt so…irritated and TIRED.

A routine doctor visit revealed that I was borderline hypertensive and diabetic. Although I had time to reverse the symptoms, I needed a dramatic lifestyle change. As my doctor said, ‘you’ve got to get rid of whatever is causing you so much stress.’ So I switched jobs and got divorced.

While I started to feel better and lose some weight initially, I couldn’t maintain the new lifestyle. So in the summer of 2018, I focused on moving my body, and move I did! I started by taking 2,500 steps a day, then increased my steps to 5,000, and then 10,000 steps. In addition to walking those 10,000 steps per day with my youngest kid (who BTW loves hiking in one of Switzerland’s hilliest cities), I also changed my diet significantly. I needed to eat better by adding a wider variety of vegetables to my diet. I discovered that the easiest way to eat better was by making soups. The result? I lost over 40 lbs in six months (from 206 lbs to 162 lbs) and my newly-awakened taste buds thanked me!

Why Soups?

Because soups can be:

• Consumed during any meal, year round, using an endless variety of vegetables and fruits.
• Both simple and sophisticated depending on tastes and textures.
• Cheap, fast, healthy and easy to prepare, requiring no special skills
• Stored easily in the freezer for future meals

Why Souperlicious ?

Simply Souperlicious is one family’s journey from discovery to converting local, seasonal veggies to healthy, fast and tasty soups!” We believe that you can re-learn to love veggies and soups provide a great re-introduction to foods that you didn’t even know that you could love. Anyone can make a great soup, and there’s always room to become a better soup maker. And, working within limitations such as a seasonal availability as well as discovering new fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, flavors, texture and techniques is what keeps soup creation interesting.

Soup is Soul Food

Finally, soup really is good for the soul. So if you’re looking for a few life hacks to accompany your recipes, I’m here as a mom/fellow mom (not a chef) to provide you with unfiltered, unsolicited “mom” advice that you know you’ve always wanted to hear but refuse to admit aloud.

There are shortcuts to eating better, and committing to eating better gets easier in steps, thanks to soups.

Knowing that there other families of finicky eaters out there who are also willing to take those steps with us makes both the challenge and journey worthwhile.

Finally, even though our promise to you is to focus on local and seasonal vegetable options, that doesn’t mean a) we don’t want to sample other soups worldwide; or b) try your recipe suggestions. Your opinions and feedback count, so please don’t be shy about sharing. We’re all family here.

So go and “nourish yourself” like your mom would want you to.