This clear soup is a very fast, very light soup especially good for someone recovering from an illness. As a first course, it leaves plenty of room for the main dishes. Adding a light soup to each meal is an excellent way to add fluids to the diet. This practice also helps to maintain proper weight, by tempering the appetite somewhat. This soup can also be made with alaria rather than soup mix. Just snip a few strips of dried alaria with scissors into the soup pot and proceed as written below.