Soup is on as weather cools. Fill your soup bowl with veggies, beans and other good stuff

It is getting cooler in sunny South Florida. Last week I received a texted weather alert to prepare for temperatures near 50 degrees. Yes, we Miamians need to be warned about chilly weather

When the temperature drops, I take out a Dutch oven or pressure cooker and start searching for soup recipes. I like soup all year,but it is especially comforting during our brief cool spells. And there are many reasons to up your soup game.

Soups can be incredibly nutritious. Since you drink the soup broth, soup is both hydrating and contains the nutrients that might leak out during cooking. Everyone loves bone broth — that is what you get with homemade chicken soup. You can easily meet your daily fiber requirements by adding garbanzos or lentils to your soup. And when soup is home made you control the sodium.

I recommend low-sodium broth or bouillon, which allows you to salt to taste. Tossing in a few vegetables adds flavor to soup and also helps meet your veggie requirements. Punch up the umami and minerals in your soup with a small piece of the sea vegetable Kombu. Just remember to take it out before serving.

Soup is economical, can help reduce waste by using vegetables that are a few days away from going bad and can fill you up since soup is a food with a high water content.

My niece Drue was back in town and introduced me to an amazing Moroccan soup called Harira. This soup has everything. Beans and lentils for fiber, anti-inflammatory spices galore, lots of canned tomatoes for lycopene and other antioxidants. I added some Swiss chard that was calling to me from the vegetable bin.

A cup of this soup has about 300 calories, 23 grams of protein, a whopping 25 grams of fiber, 1/3 of daily recommended potassium, all the daily recommended vitamin A and almost no saturated fat. A perfect meal in a bowl.

Sheah Rarback MS, RDN is a registered dietitian nutritionist in private practice in Miami.