A warm bowl of soup can hit the spot on a cold day. It can also be a healthy way to start off a meal. While canned soup is definitely convenient, it's not the best choice though. Canned soups often contain the chemical BPA, which can increase risk for heart disease and diabetes, says research found in the November 2011 Journal of the American Medical Association. Also, canned soups tend to very high in sodium, and any noodles or vegetables included in the soup tend to be cooked to mush. So when we're talkin' soups, we'll always opt for homemade soup-it just tastes better and packs more health per spoonful!

Let's look at this issue of more health per spoonful. Here are 3 important reasons why homemade soup is so much better for you:

• 
  Homemade soup increases vegetable consumption. Too many Americans don't get the recommended amount of vegetables. Adding soup to your diet can help you increase your vegetable intake, especially if you choose a vegetarian soup, such as gazpacho, a tomato-based soup that is served cold. A 2006 study published in "The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry" found that eating gazpacho every day for two weeks helped increase vitamin C levels in study participants. While cooked soups aren't usually high in vitamin C ( it is a heat-sensitive vitamin), they do provide other nutrients. For example, vegetable soup and chicken noodle soup each have almost 50 percent of the daily value for vitamin A and more than 10 percent of the daily value for selenium and potassium.
• 
  Homemade soup is filling. Unlike many liquids, soups can be about as filling as solid foods. This means you can serve soup as a meal without worrying you'll be hungry again shortly after you finish eating.
• 
  Homemade soup is low in energy density. That's fancy medical talk that means soups that are broth-based are also low in energy density, meaning they have relatively few calories per gram. Choosing foods low in energy density can help you fill up with fewer calories, making it easier to lose weight. A study published in "Obesity Research" found that eating soup twice a day as part of a low-calorie diet led to 50 percent more weight loss than eating a more energy-dense food containing the same number of calories.

"Soup is liquid comfort."

--author unknown

There's no debate that soup is a favorite comfort food. And don't you love how

versatile it is? There are so many things you can pair with a tasty bowl of soup.

Soup and salad is the proverbial restaurant choice. And then there's soup in a bread

bowl. WOW! Whoever thought of that nailed it! And crackers. They're one of the

best compliments to a bowl of soup there ever was.

But just recently I experienced a soup compliment that I'd never had before. This paring to my bowl of fresh basil and tomato soup was a take on a cracker, but it wasn't a cracker. It was a cracker-like surprise made entirely of cheese! "Crisps" these delicacies were called. Perhaps you've had a cheese crisp? This was new to me, and in the off-chance some of you out there have never tried them, here's a superb recipe. They call for just 3 ingredients, take 10 minutes to make, and only 4-5 minutes to cook. And the only thing you need is a rolling pin. Try making these the next time you're serving soup for dinner:

HERBED PARMESAN CRISPS (yield: 12 crisps)

¾ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 sprig fresh rosemary, minced (about 1 teaspoon)

¼ teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line two large baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Using 1 tablespoon at a time, spoon Parmesan cheese onto prepared baking sheets, leaving ample space between each pile. Spread piles of cheese into circles that are roughly 2 ½ inches. Evenly divide rosemary and pepper between each circle. Bake for 4-5 minutes, and remove from oven when outer edges are deep golden brown. Cool slightly. You can either serve these flat or curved. To curve each round, gently move each by a fork onto a rolling pin when they've cooled enough to hold their shape. Cool completely.

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