Saturday 31 October 2015

Winter soups

The leaves are golden, it’s dark at 4.30pm and salads aren’t really hitting the spot anymore.  I’ve been eating gallons of soup over the last couple of weeks and decided to experiment with making roasted tomato soup in my soup maker. This type of soup is usually a big pain in the ass to make as you have to roast your tomatoes first and then remove the skins. I have been roasting the tomatoes to make them taste even sweeter, but have then bunged them straight into the soupmaker instead of faffing around removing the skins (which are the tastiest bit!)

This recipe makes about 6 servings and can be easily adapted to make roasted tomato and pepper soup.

Ingredients:
12 ripe tomatoes, halved. The riper the better, buy them early in the week to make the soup at the weekend. Vine tomatoes are amazing too!
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
400g tin of cooked lentils in water, drained
2 vegetable stock cubes prepeared to give you 1 and a ½ pints of stock
Salt, pepper and olive oil
A teaspoon of chilli powder (or more if you want your soup to have an extra kick)

Method:
1.        Preheat the oven to about 180°C. Cut the tomatoes in half and remove the top where the vine would
have been. Place them onto a baking tray, skin side up. Drizzle with olive oil and season with sea salt and black pepper.  Place in the over to roast for about 30 minutes, until they are softened. Don’t worry of the skins bur a little, the tomatoes will be extra tasty!
2.       When the tomatoes are done, pour the tray (and all of the juices from the tomatoes and olive oil) into your soupmaker. Chuck in the tin of tomatoes, chilli, lentils and stock. Select the smooth setting. If using a pan, I’d simmer all the ingredients together for half an hour and then blend.
3.       Serve immediately or freeze for lunches in the week.

For tomato and roasted pepper soup:
Same ingredients pretty much, but ditch the lentils and tinned tomatoes for 5 large peppers instead. Deseed and chop them, then place in the oven to roast in the same way as the tomatoes. Once done, place all of the ingredients into your soupmaker or pan and cook the soup as above.


The finished product- bring on winter!


It’s been half term this week!  Which means that as well as wedding planning, I’ve done plenty of cooking that I’ll tell you about next week.  I tried a new quinoa recipe but the absolute winner was definitely the chicken and peanut butter curry.  See you next week!

Sunday 18 October 2015

Where have I been?

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on my blog, and for a very lovely and wonderful reason. I got engaged!  I’m now a bride-to-be, wife-to-be, Bridezilla, etc! Since my last blog post, my boyfriend popped the question; I wrote a guest list; found a venue; found a wedding dress and booked my hen party!  So it’s no wonder really that I haven’t had much time for writing a food blog.

Mrs Clarke-to-be, slugging champagne because that's really healthy...


Work has taken over a little bit too, meaning that my running and gym visits have been sporadic and it’s been a while since I’ve done a huge cook-off or tried a new recipe.  Definitely though, clean and healthy eating will continue to be on the cards since a certain white dress I bought a few weeks ago is pretty much a perfect fit. Plus, I can’t bear the thought of piling on weight before my wedding and not being able to shift it. The best bet is to stick with my routine and eating habits so that I can maintain this weight rather than gain any or, for that matter, lose any either!

My lactose intolerance also got a bit of control a few weeks ago. I felt ill, bloated, wheezy, had indigestion and what I thought were palpitations. I realised that far from being lactose free, I had had quite a lot of late and immediately cut it out completely.  I gave up my daily Greek yoghurt, replaced butter/ margarine with free-from sunflower spread and made sure I had a supply of lactose free mini milk cartons (these ones) in my handbag.  Within three days of being lactose free, I was cured which was a huge relief!  I’m now making sure I absolutely steer clear of the stuff and that if I say have a pizza, that I remain lactose tee-total for the rest of the week!

Anyway, today was the first day in a while that I had time to cook something and then blog about it.  I made two batches of winter veg soup this morning using the random selection of veg my dad had brought me from his allotment.

Turnip and leek soup or turnip, leek and pea:
This was completely invented from scratch this morning. Whenever my dad brings me a load of random veg from the allotment, I make soup with it. In today’s delivery was a couple of turnips, leeks, an onion and carrots.  I threw the peas into the second batch just because I needed a bit more veg when my supplies were running low!

Ingredients
 Half an onion, diced.
3 leeks
1 turnip, finely sliced
2 carrots
1 and ½ pints of chicken or vegetable stock
Lactose free milk (or extra stock) if needed
Sea salt and black pepper

Method:
1.        Prepare your  veg, pop it into the soup maker with the stock and select the ‘smooth’ setting.  When it’s finished cooking, add sea salt/ pepper to taste. If it’s a little too thick for your liking, add a further splash of milk or extra stock and blend again. Serve or whack in the freezer for this week’s lunches! Alternatively, you can fry your veg in a large pan first, add your stock and simmer until the veg has softened, then blend.
2.       If you want to turn this recipe into a turnip, pea and leek soup, use the ingredients as above but also throw in about 200g of frozen peas.

With those grey skies, golden trees, chilly mornings and bloody Christmas stuff in every shop, it’s definitely soup weather.  I think my next post will be dedicated to another soup recipe and since the only veg I have left now is tomatoes and peppers, it’s time to make up a roasted tomato and pepper soup recipe I think!


See you next week!

Apologies for the lack of recipes- I can show you a picture of my engagement ring instead though!!