Warming Winter Vegetable Soup

This warming, winter, vegan soup is packed full of seasonal vegetables and cold-busting ingredients! It's a lovely acid-green colour and tastes great with fresh, crusty bread.

Serves 4

• 1 large red onion, peeled and chopped
• 1-2 large cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• ½ small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped 
• 1 medium parsnip, peeled and chopped
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
• half a head of broccoli (inc. stalks) chopped
• ½ chilli, de-seeded and sliced
• 1 tsp fresh/frozen ginger
• ¼ tsp turmeric
• ¼ tsp of garam masala 
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
• 1 litre vegetable stock

Prepare the vegetables and cut into large chunks.
Sweat the onion and garlic in 1 tbsp olive oil for 3-5 minutes.
Add the spices and cook for a further minute.
Add all of the remaining vegetables.
Cover with the stock and bring to a simmer.
Simmer with the lid on for 20-30 minutes, until the vegetables are soft.
Add the coriander leaves and blend to desired consistency.

Garnish with a little extra coriander to serve.

Suitable for freezing.

I'm entering this recipe to this month's Credit Crunch Munch , hosted by Fab Food 4 All and Fuss Free Flavours.



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Spicy Mexican Bean Soup

Autumn has well and truly arrived in England this week, and the nights are drawing in, so I thought that this hearty, protein-packed, bean soup would make an ideal week-night meal. You can make this soup as smooth or chunky as you like, depending on your family's preference. I decided to blend the soup and then add the beans for a bit of texture, but you could blend the whole soup (including the beans), or not blend at all if you want a more rustic, chunky soup.

• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 clove of garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 small red bell pepper, diced 
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 3 cups vegetable stock, made with 1 stock cube
• ¼ cup dried red lentils
• 1 tsp mild chilli powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tin beans, drained and rinsed - I used mixed beans but you could use any type
• 2 tsp fresh chopped coriander
• a little hot chilli sauce, to taste

Heat a drop of vegetable oil in a large pan. Add the onion and garlic and saute gently for a couple of minutes. Add all of the remaining ingredients, except the beans and coriander leaves, and simmer for around 15-20 minutes, until the lentils and vegetables are tender. 

At this point you can blend the soup (I used my tried and tested Optimum 9400 blender) and then add the beans, or vice versa, or don't blend at all!
Return the the soup to the pan for a further couple of minutes to heat the beans through before serving.
Season with hot chilli sauce to taste and sprinkle with the coriander leaves.

Serve with warm home-made bread.

I'm entering this recipe to this month's No Croutons Required Challenge, co-hosted by Jacqui at Tinned Tomatoes and Lisa at Lisa's Kitchen. 

I'm also adding it to this month's Credit Crunch Munch, created by Helen and Camilla and hosted this month by Hannah at A New Addition



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Spiced Parsnip and Carrot Soup

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This warming winter soup is a variation on HFW's parsnip and ginger soup (River Cottage Veg Everyday). I added carrots and cut down on the spices to give a more subtle flavour as favoured by my parsnip-disliking family! This is another useful for using up leftover veg and costs just a few pence per portion...any combination of root vegetables would work well.

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil or butter
• 1 large onion or leek
• 2 medium parsnips, peeled and cored
• 4 large carrots, peeled
• 1 medium potato, peeled
• 1 litre/1¾ pts hot vegetable stock (I used a veg Oxo cube)
• 1 tsp grated fresh ginger or a good pinch of ground ginger
• A good pinch of ground cumin
• Black pepper to taste
• A little double cream to serve, optional

Roughly chop the vegetables into chunks.
Heat the oil/butter in a large pan.
Add the onions and cook gently for a few minutes.
Add all of the remaining vegetables and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
Add the spices (if using) and the vegetable stock. 
Bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until the vegetable are tender.
Blend until smooth and then return to the heat for a couple of minutes.
Swirl with a little double cream before serving (optional).

Suitable for freezing

Top Tips: This soup is easily veganised by leaving out the dairy ingredients.
To adapt for babies and toddlers, make using water or a low-salt vegetable boullion. Omit or reduce the spices. Blend, then remove the children's portions. Return to the heat and add the remaining spices. Simmer gently for 5-10 minutes before serving, while the children's portions cool.

This recipe is my entry to Lisa's Kitchen leftover-themed No Croutons Required. 

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Sunshine Vegetable Soup

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This is my twist on a classic carrot and coriander soup, which I've called sunshine soup due to it's colour. I used various orange coloured, sweet tasting vegetables plus good old celery, onion and garlic to balance the sweetness. This soup is a great way to get several 5-a-day portions of vegetables down your kids at once!

• 4-6 carrots
• 1 small sweet potato
• 1 orange or yellow bell pepper
• 150g-200g/6-8oz butternut squash
• 2 sticks of celery
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 1litre/1¾ pt hot vegetable stock (made with a stock cube)
• 25g/1oz dried red lentils
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• ¼ tsp turmeric
• black pepper to taste
• fresh chopped coriander/cilantro to serve

Peel and chop the vegetables into chunks.
Fry the onion in 1 tbsp olive oil, until soft.
Add all of the other veg and the spices to the pan and sauté for 5 minutes.
Pour in the stock and bring up to the boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer for around 20-30 minutes, or until all the vegetables are soft.
Liquidise in a blender until smooth.

Suitable for freezing.

Alternative: Make a smaller quantity of soup, using water instead of stock and omitting the pepper, for a tasty baby-food. Leave the vegetables in chunks, mash or purée depending on the age of your baby.

This post is part of the #FaveFamilyRecipes Competition with BritMums and Tilda Rice. Every pack sold will provide a meal to an expectant mum in need in support of the World Food Programme’s Mothers Helping Mothers initiative in Bangladesh.
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Pumpkin/squash Soup

This is a lovely warming soup, great for Halloween and bonfire night.

• Half a small eating pumpkin or squash, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 litre/1 ¾ pt vegetable stock
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated or ½ tsp cumin (optional)
• Black pepper to taste  
• 1-2 tbsp double cream (optional)

Fry the onion and garlic gently in a little butter or olive oil.
Add the pumpkin/squash and celery.
Stir in the stock, ginger/cumin and pepper.
Bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30 mins.
Blend, until smooth.
Stir in 1-2 tbsp double cream before serving (optional)

Suitable for freezing.

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