I don't see how this could be 346 calories.

2 pounds beef chuck
5 carrots
4 leeks
2 tomatoes

It makes 6 - 8 servings of soup.  I thought soup was supposed to be low calorie...? Did the meat add two hundred fifty calories?! A while ago (before CC) I was on the Sacred Heart diet and there was a vegetable soup mix that was only 70 calories and it was all you ate pretty much all day...

soup is low calorie depending on what you put in it. If you are putting full fat ground meat, then yeah it will be higher in calories and fat.  350 calories sounds about right.

If you want to cut down on the fat, I would say to cook the meat separatly before hand, and drain the fat first. put a paper towel on top to drain a bit more fat/or rinse the meat in the strainer. some/a lot of fat will drip off and will not be added into your soup. Add the meat back into your regular soup and enjoy less calores and a heart healthier soup (because of the lower saturated fat).

If you eat 1/6 of 2 pounds, you are eating over 5 oz of meat...

Beef, Chuck, stewing meat, lean & fat - 3 oz - 280

Beef, Chuck, stewing meat, lean only -  3 oz - 185

So....maybe you should cut back the beef, darlin.

the beef is very high in fat, it is very possible that it added the 250 cals..

I am vegetarian.. there are a lot of soy ground beef substitutes that you could use.  They taste really good, have a ton of protein and are a lot lower in fat/calories.  Morningstar Farms and lightlife both make good ground beef substitutes, hope this helps!

 

:) 

hmm.. 5 ounces of meat doesn't seem right either. It's pretty much impossible for me to be a vegetarian. My dad is a diabetic and a: my mom won't cook seperately for me, b: she doesn't allow me in the kitchen when cooking as she needs 'elbow space.' I guess I'll just pick around the meat.

I substitute ground turkey or ground buffalo (if available) for ground beef and it's not only much lower in fat, especially if you cook it first like the suggestion above,  it tastes so much better and is heart healthy .

She's eating her mom's cooking, so she doesn't have much choice about what she gets.

Miinii- 346 calories really isn't a very large dinner. I don't think you need to worry about it too much. I usually have at least 400 calories for dinner plus a little snack before I go to bed. Maybe see if you could get your parents to add a salad, just for the extra veggies?

A great way of getting rid of the fat in a soup or stew is to do this:

Cook the soup with the fat on the meat, the broth will be much more flavorful this way. Refrigerate the soup overnight. The fat will turn solid on the top. Simply scoop the fat off while it's cold and toss it away. Then reheat.

Your soup or stew will actually taste better this way, as refrigerating it overnight will cause the veggies and meat to age into the broth and enhance the flavor.

This removes far more fat from the soup or stew than trying to syphon off the floating fat.

Perhaps you could ask your mom if it was okay with her if you cooked something for yourself after she was done cooking and offer to do the dishes as part of the deal.  That way, you can make yourself something more healthy and she gets the dishes done for her.  That is the deal I make with my kids.  They can make their own food in my kitchen as long as they clean up after themselves.

If you put in 2 pounds of chuck ... yes, it would be that much.  That is one huge pile of chuck.  Are you sure you don't mean 1/2 pound, which is more reasonable amount for soup.  

If you made a stew rather than a soup, then it isn't an unreasonable calorie count for a meal.

The recipe actually sounds more like stew to me, and 350 calories is hardly unreasonable (I eat around 500 for dinner, give or take) and you could still have some fruit and even a mini bag of popcorn after if you wanted (to balance protein, fat, and carbs).

Do you enjoy this soup?  If so, then eat it!  I would perhaps eat 1/2 a serving then round out the meal w/ a baked potato or sweet potato and maybe a small salad, raw veg of a piece of fruit.  Baked potato can be made quickly and easily if you have a microwave.

You can easily have good beef vegetable soup with less and/or lower fat meat.  Anyway I usually eat about 500 calories at dinner and 350 calories doesn't sound bad at all.  However the soup would be healthier with less meat or lower fat meat.  Personally I love beef so I'm not going to tell you to do soy or ground turkey or anything.  I can't imagine ground meat in a soup anyway.

Beef, beef beef, that is why. Everytime I eat beef and I put it in the calorie counter I cringe, but it has such good things in it for you (some people disagree) that as long as it is lean, I don't sweat it. I just try to eat it as a treat, rather than a regular thing once a day.