Butternut Squash and butterbean soup - vampire fighting and frightfully good !

There is definitely and nip in the air, so soup is in order. A delicious tasty recipe perfect for warming your bones after a night out trick a treating  and also an ideal recipe for using pumpkin middle just substitute for the butternut squash in the recipe, no waste here ! This soup also improves with keeping, ideal for popping in the fridge and for taking to work the next day to be re-heated.

Containing lots of lovely vampire fighting garlic (also bug fighting too ! as the cold and flu season is now with us), add just a touch of chilli for a thrill !

What you need

• Butternut squash - 1 large , peeled and de-seeded and chopped into 1 cm pieces
• 1 white onion - finely chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic - peeled and crushed
• 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 1/2 tbsp sherry vinegar
• 1 small red chilli - finely chopped (optional)
• 1 can butterbeans - drained (retain juice if you want to use as Aquafaba)
• 1 large sprig fresh rosemary - leaves picked
• 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 500ml vegetable stock

What you do

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan
• Add the onion and cooked for a few minutes until softened
• Add the cubed squash, crushed garlic, chilli and rosemary, cook stirring for a few minutes
• Add the stock, maple syrup and lemon juice, bring to a simmer and cook until the onion and squash are soft
• Add the sherry vinegar and butter beans and bring back to a simmer
• Cool slightly and then blitz with a stick blender or in a a liquidizer to the desired texture.
• Bring back to a simmer and serve piping hot
• Delicious sprinkled with rosemary.

We are linking up to recipe of the week over at A Mummy Too. 

                                                         

Cook once Eat Twice - over on Searching for Spice

                                                       

No Croutons Required - co hosted by Lisa's Kitchen and Tinned Tomatoes

                                                               

No Waste Food Challenge, created by Elizabeths Kitchen and hosted this month by Veggie Desserts.

                                                        

Legume Love Affair hosted by Lisa's Kitchen, created by The Well Seasoned Cook.

                                                          

And finally Credit Crunch Munch from Fab Food for All and Fuss Free Flavours.

                                          

Tomato, courgette and sweet potato soup

Fresh, healthy homemade soup. What's not to like.....

I have probably said before that I am not a great fan of ready made soups and particularly those that come in packets and cans both for health and economy reasons, I tend to make most of the soup we eat from fresh vegetables and this recipe is no exception. Finding myself in the situation were I had a couple of courgettes and some tomatoes that were ageing fast, I thought I would combine them with butternut squash or sweet potato to make a wholesome soup, yet still summery.

A tasty easy recipe which would be a great way later in the season to use up glut tomatoes and courgettes if you have them, it looks like the recipe would freeze well but I haven't tried it.

What you need 

• A little vegetable oil
• Fresh or tinned tomatoes (don't worry about skins and pips as we are blending later)
• Onion
• Courgettes - topped tailed and sliced into half moons
• Butternut squash or sweet potato - peeled, de-seeded(if squash) and chopped into small chunks
• Vegetable stock
• Salt and pepper

What you do 

• Firstly prepare your vegetables
• Gently fry in the oil the onion until softened but not coloured
• Then add the courgette and butter nut / sweet potato to the pan
• Again cook until starting to softened
• Now add the tomatoes and stock to the pan
• Simmer until all the vegetables are soft
• Allow to cool slightly then blitz with a stick blender or in a liquidiser to desired consistency
• Bring back to a simmer and then taste and season
• Serve piping hot with crusty bread

We are linking up to Recipe of the Week over on A Mummy Too

                                                              

Meat Free Mondays over on Tinned Tomatoes

                                                       

Extra Veg hosted in turn by Fuss Free Flavours and Utterly Scrummy
                                                 
                                                     

No croutons required hosted this month at Lisa's Kitchen

                                                               

Parsnip, carrot and mango chutney soup

Its official I am sad, yes very sad I cut out recipes and paste them in a scrap book and then on wet days, I stand at my kitchen counter and gently flick through the pages discovering inspiration for dishes to cook. This is one such recipe, inspired by a carrot and chutney soup recipe (this one contained rice as a thickener) I decided to rescue a few past their best carrots and parsnips from the vegetable rack and combine them with mango chutney in a sweet mildly spicy soup.

A perfect soup for a cool spring weekend lunch, sufficiently comforting without being too winter warming, I served this with some easy gluten free flat bread (recipe on separate post), any leftovers I plan to take to work in my trusty soup container.

The recipe would also work with other chutneys, caramelised onion would be good and its also very frugal too. What's not to like so why not give it a try.....

                                               

What you need

• 2 large carrots - peeled and chopped
• 2 large parsnips - peeled and chopped
• Vegetable stock ( I used Essential Cuisine)
• 1 tbsp mango chutney
• 1 brown onion - peeled and finely chopped
• Salt and pepper
• A little rapeseed oil or olive oil or butter

What you do

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the onion, carrots and parsnips and sweats for a few minutes without colouring.
• Add enough vegetable stock to the pan to cover the vegetables 
• Simmer until the vegetables are soft and add the mango chutney to the pan. 
• Blitz with a hand blender or in a liquidiser until you achieve a smooth velvety texture, add more vegetable stock if required.
• Return to the pan and bring back to simmer before serving.
• Delicious served with flat breads or artisan bread.
• This soup also freezes well

I am linking this post up to Farmers Girl's linky "Recipe Clippings" for April, as this recipe was inspired by a clipped recipe from my scrapbook.

                                           

I am also linking up to Credit crunch munch as I am using past their best vegetables which is just the sort of frugal meal I like. The challenge created by Fuss Free Flavours and Fab food for All and hosted this month by Utterly Scrummy

                                           

Also to #ExtraVeg created by Fuss Free Flavours and Utterly Scrummy and hosted this month by Jo's Kitchen.
                                                         

And to Souper Soup created and hosted over at Jo's Kitchen for soups.

                                                       


And to No Croutons required co hosted in rotation by Tinned Tomatoes and Lisa's Kitchen, a challenge for veggie soups and salads.

                                                     

And finally to Simple and in Season hosted this month by Fuss Free Flavours for the lovely Ren Behan 

                                          

#BoothsMakesSoup - Health + Value + Flavour

Recently those lovely people at Booths Supermarket sent us a parcel containing two of their new soup bags, each of which contain all the ingredients you need to make a delicious soup. We received a pasta and bean soup bag and Thai sweet potato and noodle soup bag.

They also sent a fab new shopping bag and yes "I flippin' love booths" as I have had the flu recently Mr LF followed the recipe for the Pasta and bean soup carefully, substituting gluten free pasta for the macaroni supplied and he created a great wholesome tasty soup, perfect sick bed food.

Like most soup recipes, its not really complicated, just chopped vegetables cooked in stock with added beans and pasta.

Finished by adding the beans and the pasta, all the ingredients are in the bag except a tiny amount of oil and water for the stock cube. 

Below are the ingredients for the Thai sweet potato noodle soup, again easily made gluten free by subbing the noodles for rice noodles.

The soup bags were supplied by Booths free of charge for review purposes, all opinions are my own.

Potato, spinach, pea and basil soup - a tasty vegan feast

Another week has passed and we have another soup recipe for you, this one does have some reseamblence to shrek's swamp but trust me its very tasty and great for making when you hardly have anything in the cupboards. For the sake of economy I use frozen peas and spinach and there is no waste either.

                     

Vegan as it contains only vegetables, however if this isn't important to you then its delicious served topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese or swirled with creme fraiche or yogurt.

Thickened by blending half the ingredients in to the soup its low in fat and containes no flours or grains so its gluten free too.

What you need

• Onion - peeled and chopped
• 2 potatoes - peeled and diced
• 3 blobs of frozen spinach
• 1 cup of frozen peas
• Vegetable stock
• Salt and pepper
• A little olive or rapeseed oil
• Handful fresh basil

What you do

• Fry the onion and the potato in a little oil add the vegetable stock to the pan, simmer until softened
• Add the frozen peans and frozen spinach to the pan and bring back to the simmer and the spinach is defrosted. Add the basil 
• Now blitz half the pan with a stick blender until smooth and retaining some chunky vegetables for texture.
• Taste and season with salt and pepper as necessary.
• Serve piping hot

We are linking up to "Eat your Greens" over on Allotment 2 Kitchen , the challenge being to cook with a green vegetable and for the recipe to be vegeterian.

Spicy roots soup, a classic winter warmer

In the spirit of eating healthy I have been prepping some easy lunches that I can take to work, I love soup but only homemade hits the spot for me. By making your own soup you are in control of the ingredients, the level of spicing and also the portion size, and I don't know about anybody else but I can't eat a huge portion of soup (i.e can sized) so taking a packed portion works out great for me.

The clipping from my scrap book that the recipe is based on, I think its from a Tesco magazine.

Recently I noticed in Aldi they had some BPA free snap lockable soup containers on special buy so I took the plunge and purchased a set. I am hoping that this will encourage me to take my portions to work for a nutritious healthy lunch, so far so good.

My new soup container

Its an easy recipe and uses the odd root vegetable you have in your fridge or vegetable rack, the recipe also uses very little oil so its low fat and has lovely gentle spicing which enhances the sweet earthy vegetable flavours in the soup.

What you need

• 1 onion chopped (red or white)
• 2 cloves of garlic - crushed
• Couple of carrots, peeled and chopped ( I use organic if I can get them as I find they are sweeter)
• 1 small swede - peeled and chopped
• 1 large white potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 large parsnip - peeled and chopped
• A litre or so of vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• Pinch of dried red chilli (I used crumbled whole ones)
• A little yogurt to serve - optional or some omega 3 seeds
• A little rapeseed oil

What you do 

• Gently fry the onion and garlic in a little oil in a large saucepan, until softened slightly.
• Add the rest of the vegetables to the pan and cook for about 10 minutes until they are starting softened and very slightly caramelised.
• Add the spices to the pan and the vegetable stock and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft
• Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly
• Blitz with a hand blender or in a liquidiser until you reach your desired soup consistency, you may need to add water.
• Re heat to simmering point and serve swirled with natural yogurt or sprinkled with seeds
• Delicious.
• This recipe freezes beautifully

I am linking this recipe up to "Vegetable palette" over at A2K (Allotment to Kitchen), who's theme this month is Detox recipes. 

                               

Also to "Extra Veg" over on Utterly Scrummy Food and also Fuss Free Flavours as this soup contains lots of extra veg.

                                                     

And "No Croutons Required" hosted this month by Lisa's Kitchen a vegetarian challenge for soups and salads, co hosted by Tinned Tomatoes .

                                                           

And a new challenge "Recipe Clippings" as this is based on a recipe I have in my trusty soups scrapbook, this is hosted our on Farmers Girl Kitchen

                                    

And lastly Tea Time Treats, the theme this month being packed lunches and hosted this month over at Hedgecombers. A challenge jointly hosted by Lavender and Lovage.

                                                        

Roasted aubergine and tomato soup

We have another super easy soup recipe for you, this time using a bargain aubergine (eggplant for our American friends) unusually made in the oven, this recipe is based on a Hugh Fernley Whittingstall recipe.  Its frugal and very very tasty and the soup has a lovely comforting flavour, great for a cold winters day.

What you need

• 1 aubergine (chopped into chunky pieces)
• Olive oil or rapeseed oil
• 1 heaped tsp vegetable stock powder ( I use Essential Cuisine)
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• Couple of cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• Water
• Salt and pepper
• Fresh thyme or basil leaves to garnish

What you do

• Preheat your oven to 180c
• Place the chopped pieces of aubergine in a roasting dish and toss with a little oil
• Roast for 20 minutes or so until the aubergine is soft and starting to colour a little
• Add the contents of the tin of tomatoes to the dish, plus the garlic and thyme to the dish
• Also add 1 tin of warm water and your vegetable stock cube / powder to the roasting pan
• Return the roasting pan to the oven for another 20 minutes
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly, then blitz with a hand blender or in a liquidiser or food processor until you achieve your desired consistency
• Place the soup in a saucepan and warm gently until piping hot, taste for seasoning.

This dish would also make a perfect starter to any festive celebrations as its a no worry, no hassle and could be made a head and stored in the fridge. Vegan, gluten free and very healthy its a great contrast to the rich festive fare, but its equally suited to make at any time of year.

Roasted red pepper and garlic soup

Recently I managed to snaffle a couple of beautiful sweet pointed red peppers at the local shop for a bargain price, so as we love roasted peppers I decided to make a warming soup.

I love roasting red peppers as its really enhances the flavour of the pepper and intensifies their sweetness, We love them in our household even using them on rustic bread as a sandwich filling with a splash of balsamic and a couple of basil leaves to create an amazing flavourful vegetarian snack.

This soups uses the roasted pepper flesh along with a couple of  roasted garlic bulbs as the basis of a tasty hearty soup which is rich in antioxidants and all things good for you. Its also an amazing colour as you can see from the photographs.

What you need

• 2 large red pointed peppers - split, seeds removed
• 2 bulbs garlic - sliced across
• Fresh rosemary and thyme
• A little olive oil or virgin rapeseed oil
• 1 white onion - peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 medium potato - peeled and diced
• Vegetable stock ( I used Essential Cuisine)
• Salt and Pepper - to taste
• Creme fraiche or yogurt - omit if you want diary free

What you do 

• Prepare the pepper and garlic and rub with a little oil before placing on a baking tray, strewn with some fresh herbs and a little salt and pepper
• Roast for 20 - 25 minutes at 180c until the pepper skin is slightly charred and blistering
• Remove from oven and cool fully on the tray
• Once fully cool remove the charred skin from the pepper flesh and squeeze the garlic cloves to remove the cloves from the papery skin
• In a large saucepan in a little oil saute the onion and the chopped potato for a few minutes, now add the roasted red pepper flesh and garlic cloves 
• Add enough vegetable stock to cover the vegetables and simmer until the potato is soft
• Blitz using a stick blender until you have a smooth consistency 
• Add as much additional vegetable stock or water to thin to your preferred soup thickness.
• Re heat and taste for seasoning
• Serve swirled with creme friache or yogurt 

We are linking up to No Croutons Required hosted this month over at Lisa's Kitchen 

Extra Veg challenge hosted this month over at Fuss Free Living

November's family foodies hosted over at Eat your Veg 

Credit Crunch Munch hosted this month by My Little Italian Kitchen