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Yup. Cold weather has me in full-on soup mood. But, since it’s pretty much a meal, I want it to be a bit thicker and heartier than a soup, but not with the thick gravy consistency of stew. Enter: the stewp! The thin broth of soup, loaded with tons of veggies and ground turkey for flavor and substance. Fills me up and keeps me feeling full for hours, without that post-eating hangover you tend to get with a thicker stew.

First, I’ll give you the recipe, and then I’ll give you some tweaks you can do to customize it to your likes and dislikes or dietary restrictions.

• 1 pound ground turkey, seasoned and browned
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 cups shredded carrots
• 2 cups chopped zucchini
• 4 cups chopped spinach
• 1 can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 can french style green beans, drained
• 3-4 cups water

Mix together in crock pot and cook on high 5-6 hours.

This batch made 5 two cup servings, which was the perfect amount for my lunches all week. I’m pairing it with some Simple Mills Sun-dried Tomato and Basil crackers and lots and lots of water. Will keep me full until dinner. Or almost until dinner. That’s why we have snacks!!

Now for the tweaks. For instance, if you’re a vegetarian or vegan, go ahead and leave the turkey and chicken broth out. You’ll just want to use your favorite seasoning blend to give your veggie stewp some extra deliciousness. I love using my Season Salt blend on meat and veggies alike and it adds great flavor to my soups and stewps, plus extra added health benefits that so many spices have. So go ahead go nuts with the flavoring. You could add fresh cut parsley, which also has tons of health bennies. Fresh basil to give it an Italian flair. Same with your veggies. Use fresh instead of canned. Use fire-roasted tomatoes. Throw in some cabbage. Don’t like spinach, use kale. Don’t like either one? Skip it. Throw in some chopped peppers if you like. Or peas. (But not if I’m coming over–I do not like peas. However, I would still eat it, just expect a pile of uneaten peas in my bowl. It’s all good. I still love you) The true beauty in soups is the only limit is your taste buds. The important thing is to get as much of the food rainbow in there as possible. The more brightly colored the veggie, the better it is for you.

So go nuts, friends. Dig in! It’s chow time!!