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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Quick and Easy Scone Base Pizza

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This time last week there were 4 giggling girls in my house, as both Miss Ony and Miss Kahonie had a friend round for tea. I decided to make them a scone base pizza as they're so quick to make, especially using the food processor. As one of these friends is a notoriously fussy eater, I made a plain cheese and tomato pizza, as I know she's not a big fan of vegetables!

Serves 4

Scone base

• 200g/8oz SR flour
• 50g/2oz butter/spread
• 50g/2oz grated cheese
• 5-7 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp mustard powder

Toppings

• 2 tbsp tomato puree/sun-dried tomato puree
• ½ tsp mixed herbs
• 50-100g/2-4 oz grated cheese
• your choice of extras: finely chopped peppers/onion/mushrooms, sweetcorn, pineapple, olives, veggie bacon etc

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/Fan 190C/Gas 6
Rub the butter into the flour.
Add the cheese, baking powder and mustard and mix.
Slowly add just enough milk to make a soft but not sticky dough.
Roll out into a circle about 2cm thick, on a floured board, and place on a greased baking tray.
Top with the tomato puree. Sprinkle with herbs and add any extra toppings.
Finally top with the grated cheese.
Cook for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.

Serve with pasta and salad.

Suitable for freezing.

Vegan option: For a vegan scone base omit the cheese and milk. Use 75g/3oz of dairy-free spread and add water or dairy-free milk instead.
Top using vegan mozzarella-style cheese. Pin It

Child-Friendly Vegetarian Enchiladas

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I was wondering what to cook for dinner the other night, so I had a delve in the freezer and pulled out a pack of wraps and some home made tomato sauce. I had various vegetables to use up in the fridge and plenty of store-cupboard ingredients, so I decided upon making vegetarian enchiladas.

These enchiladas have a mild child-friendly, baked-bean chilli filling. You could, of course add some extra chopped jalapenos if you want to spice things up! You can use the same mixture to fill burritos, top jacket potatoes, or to stuff peppers with.

• 1 onion, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 2 carrots/1 small sweet potato/1 courgette/zucchini, grated
• 6-8 mushrooms, sliced
• 1 small tin of sweetcorn or 150g frozen sweetcorn
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 tin of baked beans (or mixed beans in mild chilli sauce)
• 2 tsp mild chilli powder
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 6 tortilla wraps
• 1 portion of tomato & chilli pasta sauce
• 100g/4oz grated cheese or vegan cheese

Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan.
Add the onion and cook for 2 minutes. Then add the herbs and spices, the mushrooms, pepper and carrots/sweet potato/courgette and cook for a further 2-3 minutes, until softened slightly.
Stir in the tomato puree, garlic, sweetcorn and baked beans.
Allow to simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.


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Pour about ¼ of the tomato sauce into the bottom of an oven proof dish.
Divide the chilli mixture between the wraps. Roll them up and place (seam side down) in a row in the dish.
Pour the remaining sauce over the wraps and top with the grated cheese.
Cook for 20-30 minutes at 160C/150C Fan/Gas 3.

Serve with a green salad, soured cream/guacamole/salsa etc.

Alternative: Use frozen mixed vegetables and a jar of ready-made pasta sauce for an even speedier dinner.

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Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato and Goats Cheese Pasta Bake

This vegetarian pasta bake makes a good family meal, and as it includes lots of sweet-tasting veggies in bite-sized pieces, it's great for toddlers and young children.

I adapted this recipe from Good to Know, but as I don't use ready-made pasta sauces and rarely use pre-prepared fresh vegetables I reduced the cost of the ingredients considerably. I thought I'd work out the difference in price to show how much money you can save...Good to Know recipe using bought pasta sauce and prepared vegetables: £5.60;  My recipe using home made pasta sauce and peel-them-yourself vegetables £3.40

• 500g combined weight of peeled and diced butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots,  red bell pepper
• 250g dried fusilli pasta
• 100g grated firm goats cheese
• 1 tbsp pine nuts (optional) 

Roast the vegetables in 1 tbsp olive oil at 190C/180C fan/Gas 5 for 20-30 minutes, until soft. Meanwhile cook the pasta until slightly underdone (8-10 minutes), drain and make the pasta sauce:

Tomato & chilli pasta sauce

• 1 onion diced finely
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 500ml passata
• ½ tsp dried or 1 tsp chopped fresh herbs
• dash of hot chilli sauce or a pinch of cayenne (optional)

Fry the onion in a drop of olive oil for a couple of  minutes, until soft.
Add the tomato puree, herbs and chilli and stir well.
Add the passata, stir and then put the lid on the pan and simmer for 10-15 minutes.   

Combine the pasta, tomato sauce and roasted vegetables and stir well.
Top with grated cheese (and pine nuts, if using) and return to the oven for 10 minutes.

Alternatives: Save even more money by swapping the cheese for budget mozzarella/cheddar or leave it out completely to make a vegan meal.
Omit the chilli if serving to toddlers/young children.

More sweet potato recipes. Pin It