We make this each year during fresh green bean season (and zucchini season) to freeze for the coming winter. We warm it up by the mugful, and it is terrific in front of the fire on a cold day.

IMPORTANT NOTE: this recipe makes 20 cups of CONCENTRATE for 40 cups of soup. When you heat this up to serve, make it with equal parts water and concentrate. Be sure to dilute it by half. Making it this way as concentrate makes it easier to freeze and less bulky for your freezer.

Salting to taste is difficult when making a concentrate. We put in two tablespoons in the whole batch, which is very little when divided by 40. When you reheat it, add more salt as desired.

We got this recipe seven years ago when we tried the Fast Metabolism Diet for a month, and this soup is what remains in our experience from that. Because we eat it in a different season than when we make it, I guess is the reason it hasn’t yet been on the blog.

A cup of this is a great way to get in some fresh summer veggies the rest of the year. We used to call it zero-calorie soup, but for this post I actually did the math and figured it out, and it is actually 19 calories a cup. Not quite zero but close!

Green Bean Soup (19 Calorie per cup) Recipe

6 cups water
9 stalks celery, chopped
6 cups green beans, ends trimmed
6 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
9 zucchini and/or summer squash, chopped
3 cups white mushrooms, chopped
3 cups parsley leaves
1.5 onions, diced
Sea salt to taste

Get everything ready first in two big bowls. In one put the celery, green beans, and garlic, and in the other put the onions, zucchini (and/or summer squash), mushrooms, and parsley leaves.

In a large stock pot place the water, green beans, garlic and celery. Cook for 5 minutes.

Then add the second bowl of veggies: the onions, mushrooms, zucchini and/or summer squash, and the parsley leaves. cook, stirring for seven minutes until tender.

Put ingredients in batches in a blender and whirl smooth.

Add salt to taste.

When reheating it to eat, warm it up with equal parts water and soup concentrate. Add more salt if desired. We serve it in a mug as a hot drink, with or between meals.