Cooking Up a Very Super Bowl: The Soupergirl

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YOU'RE MORE LIKELY to see D.C.'s resident Soupergirl donning an apron than a cape, but she's still confronting a formidable challenge: saving your body through soup.

That's right: Sara Polon, 31, runs Soupergirl, a made-from-scratch soup delivery business. The power of her stews and bisques lies in their diabolically good-for-you ingredients: seasonal veggies primarily from local farms, with no added cream or butter.

"Our general rule is if your grandmother doesn't recognize something on the ingredient list, it shouldn't be in your food," says Polon, who was inspired by Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma."

Every week, she and her "soupermom" whip up two flavors, such as gingered carrot almond and Caribbean sweet potato. Then, customers can place orders online for pints of their picks and decide whether to have them delivered (for a fee) or to pick them up at one of four D.C. locations.

And whatever her customers' diets are lacking, Polon promises to have a recipe she can use to come to their rescue. Polon raves about her Farmer's Market in a Bowl soup ("It's like pure winter vegetable goodness," she says), which packs three to four servings of fresh vegetables. And her bean-based blends are great for those who want to eat more fiber and protein.

Still, "we don't think you'll notice" that the soups are so good for you, Polon says. She's confident that soup slurpers will see their waistlines shrink, however — Polon says she's lost 10 pounds since she started souping up her diet in November.

"Soup is a wonderful diet food," she says, "because the liquid fills you up. If you sit down to a big bowl of black bean soup or lentil soup, it's [got] fewer calories than a bowl of pasta, and you're going to feel satiated for much longer," thanks to the fiber boost. Sounds like a triumph over hunger.

Photo courtesy Rivka Friedman