Winter Warmer Soup

Today I made my  Mother's Winter Warmer Soup

As soon as November hits Soup comprises 90% of all my meals. I can literally have soup at any point during the day I've even been known to have it for lunch and dinner in the same day. When I'm at home I love to make my Soup from scratch. I have such good memories from my childhood of being out playing in the snow on a frosty Christmas day then coming in to thaw out in a big bowel of my mother's homemade soup. Even to this day when ever I have this Soup recipe it takes me right back to those fondly remembered days. As I grew older my mother started to teach me how to make this bowl of warming goodness. I started with basic recipes then began to start experimenting.

Not only did I start experimenting with different Soup ingredients but also with different Soup Toppers and different Soup accompaniments. When I have the time I love to make my own stock. Sometimes I make concentrated stock in bulk and then freeze it in ice-cube trays so I can pop out a couple of cubes and throw them in with the Vegetables at the start of cooking. I like to make my own croutons or Melba toast type slices of bead using gluten free bread. Other Soup toppers I like include Sour Cream, Natural Yoghurt, Seasme Seeds or Vegetable crisps. If you want to up the protein in your soup you can add in some Shredded Chicken into this recipe.

Ingredients:

(Serves two hungry people)

• 2 Cloves of Garlic
• 1 Red Onion
• 1 White Onion
• 2 Carrots
• 2 Parnips
• 1/2 Butternut Squash
• 5 Florets of Broccoli
• 5 Florets of Cauliflower
• 600mls Chicken or Veg Stock 
• Salt
• Pepper 

Instructions:

1. Crush or finely chip the two cloves of Garlic. Finely slice the White and Red Onions. Dice up the Carrots, Parsnips and Butternut Squash into small cubes. Cut off the florets of the Broccoli and Cauliflower.

2. Spray a small amount of Low Kcal Spray into a medium sized pan. Add in your Garlic and fry for a minute or two to flavour the pan. Add in the Onions and a splash of the Stock stir with a wooden spoon and allow to soften for a further 2-3 minutes on medium heat.

3. Add in the remainder of the Vegetables and all bar 100mls of the Stock and cook until all the Vegetables are softened. 

4. Blend all the Vegetables with a hand held blender or place into a smoothie maker and blitz until smooth and all the lumps are gone. Add in the remainder of the Stock until your reach the desired consistency. 

5. Ladle up the soup into your bowl of choice. I served mine with one giant Crouton, sprinkled with Seasme Seeds and served with home made Melba Toast. 

"Mmm. Noodle Soup"