40 Soups - Spicy lentil with pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Since I have been cutting out dairy this new year I am having to challenge myself more in all areas of cooking, without meat and dairy in my diet you would think the options for meals would me more limiting but I am exploring all sorts of new flavours and textures that I never used before.  Soups are no different, I am trying out all sorts of combinations of ingredients, some not so successful (using the pump from the juicer) and others like this, have been a huge success.  I don't mean to blow my own trumpet or anything, but this soup was AMAZING!!  Was pretty chuffed with myself.  It's vegan, super nutritious, high in protein and tastes fantastic. And of course it was dead easy to make.

(photographed half way through eating!)

Ingredients:

(serves 2)

1 red onion,

2 cloves of garlic,

1 courgette,

3 carrots,

1 stock cube,

1 tbs tomato purée,

1/4 tsp harrisa paste,

1/2 tsp mild curry powder,

1/2 tsp ground cumin,

1/2 tsp mustard powder,

1/2 cup red lentils,

1 tbs sunflower seeds,

1 tbs pumpkin seeds.

Gently fry chopped onion and garlic in olive oil, when softened add carrots and courgette, cook on low heat for 10 minutes, add water to cover and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add purée, paste and seasoning, simmer for 5 minutes.  Blend the soup with a stick blender.  Add lentils and seeds and 1/2 cup water and simmer for a further 15 minutes or until lentils have softened but still have a little bite, add more water if it's getting too thick, it should have a soup like consistency. Eat with crusty bread for a delicious lunch or dinner.  

40 soups - Souper Green soup!

This soup is completely delicious and so so healthy, full of lots of detoxifying chlorophyll, vitamins and fiber amongst other things, it's really easy to make, give it a go for a refreshing, filling lunch served with homemade toast.

Ingredients:
1 onion,
3 cloves of garlic
Handful of spinach,
Large handful of kale,
5 florets of broccoli,
Any other seasonal greens you have hanging round,
vegetable stock.

Chop and fry your onion and garlic in a saucepan,
Add the green veg and some freshly boiled water,
crumble/sprinkle the stock into the soup,
Leave to cook for about 15 mins,
Blend,
Eat and enjoy all the health benefits of dark green leafy veggies.

40 Soups - Bean and vegetable

Life with a toddler and a small baby is HARD, by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do, and I thought parenting one child was hard, adding another to the mix takes parenting to a whole new level.  It can be very easy to forget to look after yourself when you are giving so much energy to your children.  In spite of my somewhat optimistic new years resolutions to take care of myself, my diet has been starting to slide, I had stopped planning meals and we were winging it at dinner time, cue lots of frozen veggie burgers, baked beans and *hangs head in shame* pot noodles.  So I realised it was time to inject some much needed vegetation into our diet.  So I planned a couple of veggie soups into our reestablished meal plan, one of which is this delicious and really healthy soup that takes hardly any time to make - Bean and vegetable soup.  

Isn't it colourful? It's easy, just get:

1/2 an onion,

2 cloves of garlic,

1 big carrot,

4 leaves of cavolo nero (or any type of kale),

Big handful of young spinach leaves,

1 carton of kidney beans,

1 chicken stock cube,

Fry the onions and garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil,

Add the carrot chopped into small cubes,

Add the finely chopped kale and spinach,

Add kidney beans,

Add enough boiled water to cover the vegetables and make it nice and soupy,

Add the stock cube, 

Cook on a medium heat for about 15 minutes or until the carrots feel soft,

Partially blend with a stick blender.

Enjoy your colourful soup with buttered toast. Yum, and at least 3 of your 5 a day!

P.S. I use all organic ingredients because I prefer not to consume all those yucky chemicals.  

40 Soups - Mushroom

Over on my old blog Serendipity Child I started a series of posts call 40 soups based on a theme on a blog I follow by Elise Blaha, although I didn't get far with it, I loved it and have decided I would like to carry it on on this blog.  I really love soup and as it is coming into Autumn and winter when soups are the perfect warmer I thought I would share them with you.
Not only are soups easy to make they are also nutritious, enabling you to eat a few portions of your five a day in one easy meal.  My toddler usually likes them to, I give him the unblended version so he has pieces of food to pick up with his fingers and leave out cream because he has a dairy sensitivity.
This week I made mushroom soup for the first time. I didn't follow a recipe (I rarely do for soups) I just thought about what I would like to do and went ahead.  It isn't the cheapest soup to make because it required a whole pack of mushrooms, but was very very tasty.

I used:
One pack of organic chestnut mushrooms,
One large organic onion,
Three cloves of allotment garlic,
One kallo chicken stock cube,
1 tbs organic olive oil,
A dash of organic double cream.

To begin I chopped the onion and garlic and fried it in the olive oil.  I then chopped the mushrooms and addded them till they went soft and watery.  Next I added enough water to cover the mushrooms plus a bit more and added the chicken stock cube.
After cooking for about 15 mins I blended the whole thing and added the cream.
Served with crusty white bread it was absolutely delicious and tasted just like a bought fresh mushroom soup.
What soup recipes do you love?