A Soup A Day...

I have never been a big soup person until a couple of winters ago when I realized that it is a nutritious way to feed my family quickly and easily.  I think the biggest change was when I learnt to make my own stock and this just elevated soup making and the taste to another level.

Now we make soup for every weekday lunch as it is easy to put on at about 10.30 when we have a break in the morning routine and then I just need to add some small finishing touches at 12.30 when we have lunch.

So here are our last week’s soups.

Sweet potato and fresh ginger soup

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 peeled raw sweet potatoes, cut chunks

1 large onion diced

1 tablespoon butter

1 pinch sugar

3 large garlic cloves, pressed

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 liter cups chicken stock

1 1/2 cups milk

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Brown the onion and garlic and sweet potato in the butter. Add the spices and stock and simmer for about 20 minutes. (I leave it on 1 here while we finish schooling). Use your hand blender to make the soup smooth while adding the milk.

Adjust flavour with salt and pepper and then ladle into bowls. It’s a thick soup. Topped with fresh coriander ad served with your choice of bread, cheese scones or rolls.

Chicken, mushroom and bacon soup

1 punnet mushrooms, sliced

1 packet bacon, sliced

2 – 4 deboned chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces

1 onion, diced.

Butter

Fresh sage

Fresh garlic

1 litre chicken stock

Brown the onion, garlic and bacon in the butter. Add the chicken and brown. Then add the mushrooms and stir a bit. Add 1 tablespoon of flour and stir in. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Allow to cook until all is done. Add salt and pepper and some Tabasco if you like a bit of heat. Serve with fresh butter rolls.

Butternut soup

1 large butternut

2 sweet potatoes

1 onion

1 heaped teaspoon of each cumin and coriander

250ml Cream or 2 rounds of Feta

Butter

1 litre chicken stock

Brown onion and garlic in butter. Add peeled diced  butternut and sweet potatoes. Pour over chicken stock and add spices. Bring to the boil then reduce heat. Allow to simmer until all veggies are soft. Use the stick blender to make smooth. Add the cream or feta and blend again.

Sometimes I add some orange zest and cinamon to this aswell. Delicious citrus flavour.

Lamb and barley soup

1 litre lamb stock

1 cup of barley

1 onion

2 cups shredded cabbage

4 tomatoes

Whatever fresh herbs you like, I used rosemary and majoram.

Olive oil

Brown the onion, add the veggies and stock. When boiling add barley. Allow to cook until it is soft. S

Beef vegetable soup

1 onion

4 pieces beef shin

2 litres of beef stock

Any vegetables you have like tomatoes, turnips, carrots, soup celery….

Herbs like thyme, rosemary.

Olive oil

Brown the onion and then the meat. Add your veggies then the stock and herbs. Allow to cook for about 2 hours. Remove the meat and bones and use the stock blender to smooth. Add the beef back to the soup and serve. 

Vegetable, Bacon and Barley

2 red onions

4 carrots

5 tomatoes

1 butternut

100g Green beans or courgettes

1 packet bacon (we use Happy Hog free range)

2 litres chicken stock

1/2 Cup barley

Sage and majoram

Chop all veggies into small pieces, brown in olive oil and butter. Add herbs and salt and pepper. Add int chicken stock, bring to the boil. Add barley and allow to simmer until everything is soft. Adjust seasoning and serve.

While Superman and I are still low carb, my kids love some sort of bread to go with these soups. The butter rolls are linked above, but yesterday we made some cheese spirals.

Cheese Spirals

1 packet puff pastry

100g grated cheese

Marmite

Mustard

Lay out the pastry and spot with both mustard and marmite (lightly). Sprinkle cheese over, then roll up like a swiss roll. Cut into 2cm slices. Lay on greased baking tray and cook until golden.

These warm our tummies and keep us going through the afternoons schooling and sports.

Enjoy!
Sharing this at Simple Lives Thursday