It's another soup recipe! Until the weather changes and gets warmer I'm sticking to my soups for a work day lunch. There are so many different vegetable combinations you could try. Making your own soup is easy, healthy and cheaper than buying ready made.
My latest soup recipe was based on what vegetables had been reduced in my local supermarket! Is it just me, or are there others out there who quite look forward to a quick trip into the supermarket on the way home from work to see what has been reduced? You know the type of thing I mean, every supermarket has a section which showcases the battered and 'close to sell by date' vegetables desperate for someone to buy them.
On this occasion I picked up a bag of parsnips, a bag of coriander and a big bag of curly kale (even though my garden is full of it!) I think I just felt sorry for it. The grand total £1.45
- Kale - normally £2 - reduced to 60p
- Parsnips - normally £1 - reduce to 45p
- Coriander - normally 80p - reduced to 40p
The best bit is, I only used half of each bag in the recipe, so I have some left over for another meal. Most of the other ingredients were bought the day before from the same reduced section, bargain!
Ingredients
1 Leek, sliced
2 Sticks of celery, sliced
4 Parsnips, diced
1 Choi sum (optional), stems chopped, leaves left whole
250g Kale, roughly chopped, stalks and all
1 Bay leaf
1g Fresh coriander, chopped
1½ Litres water
6 Tsp Bouillon powder
Method
First saute the leeks in a little oil of your choice for 5 minutes, add the celery and saute for another 3 minutes. Add the parsnips with a splash of water to stop them sticking and give everything a good stir.
Make your vegetable stock by mixing the bouillon powder with the water and stir.
Add the choi sum stalks, bay leaf and vegetable stock to the pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes and add the kale and continue to cook for another 5 minutes or until the parsnips are cooked through.
Add the coriander and turn off the heat. Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend until smooth. You may need to do this in batches depending on the size of your blender.
Transfer the blended soup to a clean saucepan and add salt and pepper to taste and heat through before serving.
While the weather is still wet and windy, all I seem to want for lunch is soup. So for the past couple of weeks the blender has been living on my kitchen worktop! Soup is a great packed lunch to take to work, either in a thermos flask, eek remember them, or heat the soup up in a microwave if your work has one of course. A hot bowl of soup and a hunk of home made bread to either dip in or use to wipe the bowl clean makes a great lunch for a work day.
I still have a couple of pumpkins in store, they really do make marvelous soups, but are also great roasted, mashed or used as an ingredient to make a delicious meal. See below for more recipe ideas with pumpkins.
Ingredients - Serves 5-6
1 Onion, diced
2 Cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 Thumb sized piece of ginger, finely chopped
1 Pumpkin, diced
1 Tsp Cumin
1 Tbsp Soy sauce
500ml water
2 Tsp Vegetable bouillon powder
Salt & Pepper
500ml Almond milk
Method
Saute the onion in a little oil of your choice for 5 minutes then add the garlic and ginger and saute for a further 2 minutes.
Add the chopped pumpkin and continue to cook for another couple of minutes, adding a little water if it starts to stick. Add the cumin and soy sauce and stir to combine.
Mix the vegetable bouillon powder with the water and add to the pumpkin mixture. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 5 minutes or until the pumpkin is cooked.
Transfer to a blender and process until smooth. Pour into a clean saucepan and add the almond milk. If the soup is a little too thick add more vegetable stock or a little more almond milk depending on how big your pumpkin was.
Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.
Why not try one of my other vegan pumpkin/squash recipes?
By now, you must have heard about the health benefits of kale. It's all over the place, the new superfood! Don't get me wrong this vegetable is SUPER, and I'm glad that everyone is finding out about it, but to some of us, "the grow your own crowd", it's been a staple vegetable grown in our gardens or allotments for some time.
Personally, I would never not grow it, it really is so versatile. It looks after itself, it can tolerate drought, heat, wet and cold weather and has a long growing season. For the lazy gardener it is one of the best vegetables you can grow, just sow the seed and wait for the magic to happen.
What other vegetable do you know that makes a fine smoothie, a crunchy crisp, tastes fantastic in a soup, stir fry or salad and tastes great just steamed? OK, so there are a few.............
My kale has fed me over the winter months and I still have some growing, last weekend I decided that I would try something new and I created the lentil and kale roast. I was really pleased with the results and you should definitely give this one a try.
If you've never tried kale before and the thought of it in a smoothie sounds weird then this recipe is the one for you. Rather than packing the roast full of kale I decided it was best used to dress up the lentils, ready for a party on your plate!
Ingredients - Serves 6
1 Aubergine, about 225g
75g Kale, leaves only
150g Red lentils
400ml Water
1 Tsp Vegetable bouillon powder
1 Tsp Fresh rosemary, finely chopped
2 Tsp Fresh mint, finely chopped
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped
2 Cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 Tsp Dried mixed herbs
75g Rolled oats
2 Tbsp Ground flax seeds
4 Tbsp Water
Black pepper
½ Tsp Herbamare salt
Method
Wrap the aubergine in foil and put in a moderate oven and bake for 1 hour or until very soft to the touch and the skin peels off easily.
Mix the ground flax seed and water together and set aside.
Put the lentils in a saucepan, add the bouillon powder to the 400ml of water and pour over the lentils. Bring to a boil and simmer for 25 minutes, remember to stir a lot towards the end to stop the lentils sticking to the bottom of the pan. After 20 minutes add the chopped rosemary and mint and stir through the lentils.
While the lentils are cooking, prepare the kale, boil for 5 minutes and drain, set aside and leave to cool. Once cool squeeze all the water out and chop up the kale into smaller pieces.
Saute the onion and celery in a little olive oil for 5 minutes and add the garlic, saute for another 5 minutes over a low heat and then add the dried mixed herbs. Add a splash of water to the pan if the vegetables start to stick.
Remove the aubergine from the oven and leave till it is cool enough to handle. Peel and chop/mash the flesh.
Transfer the lentils to a large bowl, add the onion mixture, chopped kale, oats, aubergine and the flax egg. Season with black pepper and herbamare salt. Give everything a good mix making sure that everything has been combined and transfer to a prepared loaf tin. Push the filling down so that the mixture is compact. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes and the top is golden brown. Serve with vegetables and an onion gravy.
Just a quick posting tonight folks, it's been a heck of a day, in a good way but it has left me shattered and I'm ready for bed! However it is Veganuary and I didn't want to miss sharing another recipe with you.
Today's recipe is super quick, super tasty and super healthy! You can't get better than that can you?
Ingredients - Serves 2
120g Dried spaghetti
½ Red onion, finely diced
4 Baby Corn, finely sliced
½ Red pepper, finely diced
5 Chestnut mushrooms, diced
8 Cherry tomatoes, chopped
Handful of kale, shredded
2 Tsp Paprika
½ Tsp Chilli flakes
1 Tsp Porcini powder
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp Mushroom ketchup
2 Tbsp Almond milk
Water, as required
Method
Add the spaghetti to a pan of boiling water and cook as per packet instructions.
Meanwhile, saute the red onion, red pepper and baby corn in a little olive oil until the onion is translucent. Add a splash of water if the vegetables start to stick.
Add the soy sauce and mushroom ketchup and stir, then add the paprika, chilli flakes and porcini powder and stir again.
Add the mushrooms and continue to saute over a low heat for another 3 minutes adding another splash of water if the mixture is too dry. Add the kale and continue to cook for another 3 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and milk and cook over a low heat for another 5 minutes or until the tomatoes have broken down into a sauce.
Drain the spaghetti and serve at once.
