It's been so busy, thank goodness for soup!

Well, term three began with a hiss and a roar, followed by a great deal of cold. Sickness threatened. And almost won out. However, soup was the total hero! Between all the frozen soup and easily made soup, we made it through the worst of it all. (I hope). Spring is in view, and soon the weather will warm.
This morning has been a great time to make more of the Kumara and Leek Soup, still my favourite of the season.

Preparing my favourite soup

Knitting designs have slowed down with the busy-ness of the season sadly, but at least my Doctor Who Scarf is finished!  I love it completely; even if it is a challenge to wear.

I also have a Doctor Who Scarf Beanie... made from the scraps, and this pattern will follow.

Currently I am working on a Bearded Beanie and Minion Mittens, as one reader has issued the challenge, so watch this space for a pattern.
With the Drama of the Earthquake (6.5) in Wellington on Friday when I was in town with 50 students, a few hit but not gaining more than minor scraps by falling ceilings, and all our transport cancelled, I am happy for a dull and dreary few days.  (Here's hoping anyway).

Tomato and Basil Soup

I've been on a quest to make great soups this winter, and I am literally on a roll.
This tomato and basil soup can be made quickly, and it is super tasty, and completely meat-free.

This recipe yields 4 hearty servings.



Ingredients
6 tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 red onion
Handful basil
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Vegetable stock cube
2 cups water
150ml cream
Parmesan cheese

1. Wash tomatoes, cut in half, and line a roasting dish, with the cut sides up. Cut the onion in quarter and give the garlic a quick crush with the back of the knife. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt, pepper and chopped basil leaves.

Roast at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes.


2. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a little... Or you will scold your fingers!
Peel the skin off of each tomato, discarding the skin, and throw everything else; juice, oil, onions etc, in a soup pot on a low heat.




3. Add the stock cube and a 2 cups of water. Heat until boiling. Add more basil. Blitz with a blender. Add cream. Stir until combined.



4. Serve with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and a couple of basil leaves. I like it with sour dough garlic rolls.



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Day 2: 5+ a Day Challenge

Okay. Getting there. And I'm feeling much more together than I usually do at the end of term.

Breakfast (in a rush as I attempted to do last minute sewing)
- banana
- stewed apples with oat sprinkles

Lunch
- lasagne (1 vege portion)
- kiwi fruit
- mandarin
- banana
- yogurt

Snacks
- scroggin
- cheese and crackers

Dinner
- mushroom soup
- toast

That makes 7! Actually better than I imagined.


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5+ a Day Challenge: Monday

Well, I made it through one day. And I am pleased so far. While I still wanted to eat deep fried, high sugary goodness in amidst assessing the end of terms work, I didn't.

Breakfast
1 serving peaches
Special K

Lunch
Lasagne (vegetarian) 1 vege serving
Kiwi fruit
Mandarin

Snacks
Mixed nuts
Cheese and crackers

Dinner
Mushroom and Leek soup 1 vege serving.



I'm being fairly tight on the soup and lasagne, just to be fair. The soup has loads of mushrooms that evidently count as vege, but I've kept it conservative.

Tomorrow I shall attempt a banana!


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Pea Soup

I've been wanting to make a pea soup for a while. I love the colour.




And it's tasty!

Ingredients
2 medium Kumara (sweet potato)
1 kg frozen peas
1/2 leek
1 red onion
Handful fresh parsley
1/2 handful fresh basil
Pinch chilli powder
Pinch garam masala
Salt and pepper
Knob butter
1 litre vegetable stock

Sweat the onions, parsley and leek with butter in a large pot.



Cut the Kumara, and add with all the ingredients except the peas.

Boil on a low heat until the Kumara is soft.



Allow the peas to defrost and drain excess water. Add to the soup. Return to the boil. When peas are soft, blitz with a blender. Season with salt and pepper.



Serve with garlic bread.



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Roasted Butternut Pumpkin Soup

Well, I did it again. It turns out that when it comes to soup, I am a genius. And I have no shame in saying it aloud. Or singing about it.... Much to the chagrin of my dogs.



Roasted Butternut Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients
1 whole butternut pumpkin
3 carrots
2 red onions
1/2 leek
1 litre vegetable stock
1 clove garlic
2 sprigs rosemary
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garam masala
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Knob of butter


1. Slice the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds. Place on a roasting tray. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Crush the garlic glove, and place half in each hole of the pumpkin. Place rosemary in the hole too, and roast at 180 degrees for about an hour. I like to do this while roasting something else.




2. After 30 minutes, throw the carrots into the roasting dish with the pumpkin. Just wash the carrots, I like leaving the skins on.



3. Roughly dice the onions and leek. Sauté in a soup pot with the butter.






4. Remove the skins from the pumpkin, and chop into large pieces. Add the carrot and pumpkin to the pot with the vegetable stock, cayenne pepper and garam masala. Discard the garlic and rosemary.



5. Allow to boil on a low heat for about 20 minutes. Blend with a stick blender. Add salt and pepper to taste.



6. Serve with sour cream and Parmesan cheese. Okay, this is optional, but I loooooove sour cream and Parmesan!



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Genius Tomato Soup

I am completely shameless about my prowess at making soup.  I am a genius.  And obviously not humble about it in any way.  I also loooooove soup.  A lot.  Usually I don't like tomatoes, but it was time to break the mold and create the perfect tomato soup.  And I did.

Tomato Soup

Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter
1 red onion
1/2 leek
700gm tomatoes (approx.  I had a baggie of them)
Olive oil
Fresh basil
1 clove garlic
1 pinch ground chili
1 pinch cayenne pepper
Bay leaf
50mls cream
Salt and pepper
2 cups vegetable stock

1.  In an oven proof dish, roast the tomatoes whole.  Drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper, crushed garlic clove, and a sprig of basil at 180 degrees until the skins split and the tomatoes are soft.  Allow to cool a little, then remove the skins. 

Tomatoes all ready for roasting

2.  Roughly chop the onion and leek.  In a soup pan, melt butter, then cook the onion and leek on a low heat until they are clear.  Add the tomatoes and the juices from the roasting.  Throw away the garlic clove.

Roasted tomatoes ready to join the leeks and onion

3.  Add chilli, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper and the bay leaf to the pot.  Throw in a handful of basil leaves.  Allow to cook until fragrant and the basil wilted. 

4.  Add the stock and boil.  Taste.  Season with salt and pepper to your desire.  Remove the bay leaf.

All in the pot, doing its thing.

5.  Blitz the soup with a blender.  I love my stick blender, its like the greatest thing ever.

6.  When smooth and boiling, turn the heat off.  Add the cream and stir.

Serve with Parmesan cheese.  I love cheese.

Lunch... a recurring theme

Well, lunch has been soup for AGES now. And I loves it.

The food tech teacher has been making mass loads of soup for everyone, which is not only incredibly sweet, but delicious! And I have taken to making a load of soup. In particular, the Kumara (sweet potato) and Leek soup has been a genius moment.

Today was more Kumara and Leek soup, with a bread roll, gingerbread muffin (recipe to follow at some point), mandarin, kiwi fruit, nuts and dried bananas. The soup in a flask is barely visible... But delicious.


And here is the basket of cups returning o school after being washed in preparation for the next soup day.

Kumara (Sweet Potato) and Leek Soup

My normal superpower is knitting.... But today I made the greatest soup of all time, creamy, delicious, amazing, and all gone. So this will be made again. Tomorrow.



Ingredients
3 Kumara (sweet potatoes)
1/3 leek
1 onion
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups vegetable stock
2 cups water
Salt
Pepper
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon coriander

Peel the Kumara or sweet potatoes roughly. I like leaving some of the flesh. Cop into rings about half a cm wide. Waiting for soup isn't my strong suit. Dice the onion and chop the leek. Toss it all in a pot with the butter. Stir on a low heat until the onion is all soft and delicious looking.


Add in the spices. I go for a lot of pepper because its amazing. But, salt and pepper to taste.



Toss in the water and stock. Chicken stock would be great if you are a meat eater. But I am not, so I stick firmly to vegetable stock.



Boil. Keep the heat low and keep stirring. When the Kumara is soft, blitz with a hand blender.




Prepare to serve and be amazed. The leeks make it all creamy and amazing. I was all ready to add cream, and then stopped myself because the soup was perfection.




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Butternut and Carrot Soup

I love pumpkin soup.... Well, I guess it's all technically squash here in New Zealand, but I love it. Usually I make one with the ol' classic grey pumpkins. This however is butternut squash. So much easier to deal with.

Final blitzed soup in the pot

Ingredients:
- 1 butternut squash
- 1 onion
- 2 carrots
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground chilli
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 litre vegetable stock

Method

Peel the butternut squash. I use a simple veggie peeler. So much easier than the tough pumpkins. Cut the squash in half lengthways and scoop out the seeds. I tend to just throw these in the garden. Next year they just pop up as squash.



Peel and cut the onion and carrots. Cut up the squash into palm sized chunks. Throw all ingredients in a soup pot. Boil the whole thing on a low heat, and keep stirring. After about 30 minutes, turn the heat off, place on a lid, and rest.

I like to leave it overnight at this point because everyone knows soup gets better with age. Remove the bay leaf.  Blitz the soup with a stick blender. Boil.

You can add parsley, chives or cream at this point, or leave it as it is. I like to section some off into 2 cup baggies and freeze for a later date. Don't add cream if you are going to freeze it.

This recipe yields approximately 2 1/2 litres of soup, depending on the size if your veggies.

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Soup, wonderful soup.

It's officially winter. Here is my fridge, clearly soup is in my future.



I've been making a lot of the stuff, and doing several things with it.
1. Eating it. Duh. It's delicious.
2. Freezing it. I can't make it through a full pot of soup in my own time.
3. Taking it for lunch.

Freezing has been a revelation. I've been putting it in 2 cup full bags - glad medium sandwich zip top baggies specifically and labelling the stuff for the deep freeze. I usually make the soup with less water so that when I defrost the stuff, I can add more water and have soup easily... For dinner and lunch.



I've been taking it for morning tea and lunch. Morning tea is like 11:20, and lunch 1:20, so it's a long time from my leaving home without 2 meals! Lol. The stay fit soup container is great for morning tea, and the soup is still warm then, but by lunch it is cold. I bought a small thermal cuppy thing from Kathmandu, and it is burbling.

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Super Simple "Emergency" Soup

Well, it was cold last night, and the realisation that I could have been at work, without my car all day... well... it made me want comfort food.  This soup just needs to boil for about 20 minutes, then just boil again during breakfast to be hot to take to work.  And it only takes about 5 minutes to prepare.  This is why I call it "Emergency" soup.  It's super easy to make for an unexpected group for lunch or dinner, and always makes enough for left overs.  In case of people arriving while soup is on... add more water and croutons. 

Ingredients
1 packet Kings Hearty Vegetable soup mix (I know... it is a cheat... but I like that it already has barley and lentils in the packet....)
1 small onion
1/2 leek
1/2 bunch of celery
2 carrots
Salt and pepper
1 thingy of vegetable stock (I used to use cubes, now I get little tubs of vegetable stock concentrate)
2 litres water

1.  Turn the heat on low, and place a large saucepan on the stove.
2.  Dice the onion, throw into the pot.  Slice the celery and leek, to about 7mm in width, throw in the pot.  Give it a wee stir.  The celery will smell amazing.
3.  Peel and slice the carrot.  I usually make carrot hearts, but I was in a rush.  Throw in pot.  Give everything a good stir.
4.  Add the soup mix, stock, salt and pepper, stir.
5.  Add the water.  Let everything boil for about 20 minutes, turn off the heat, and place the lid on top of the pot.

Next morning, boil and take in a travel mug.  Nom.  The only issue... I clearly did not take enough soup today. :(

Minestrone by Necessity

All year, my husband has been sick in one form or another.  First with chemotherapy, then the reaction to the chemo, and now the recovering from the solid destruction the treatment has taken on his stomach and intestines.  Less than ideal. 

However, 2 things have come out of it.  I have become a walking expert on cancer related medications, and foods to prepare.  I have an astounding array (okay, 3) books on cooking for cancer, or at least, cooking to avoid cancer and a growing notebook of ideas, guidance and foods that he likes, combined with anti-carcinogenic properties.  (I told you I was getting good with the terminology).

But now he is on the mend, it is time for a new regime.  He has never been a soup fan, sadly, as I ADORE the stuff.  However, as he has been recovering, his soups have been becoming more solid, and more interesting. 

Did I mention he tends to hate food the second time around?  Again, different from me.  I LOVE leftovers.  I know where I stand with leftovers.  I can see that there are so many meals, or parts of a meal remaining.  So I had been using those convenient cans-of-soup-for-one for him.  Until I ran out!  So disorganized in the chaos.

And now to the point of this entry, I needed a filling soup, high in cancer fighting ingredients, and fast.  Almost-instant minestrone came as a tasty flash.

The Almost-Instant recipe

From the pantry:
- 5 bean mix (canned)
- Spiral pasta
- Tomato pasta sauce with garlic

From the garden
- Zucchini
- Fresh basil
- Leek
- Onion

From the freezer/fridge
- Vegetable broth
- Frozen mixed vegies

Into a medium saucepan on a low heat, throw 1/2 cup of vegetable broth.  I had this leftover from a soup earlier in the week.  Also add a handful of pasta (I keep an airtight container of pasta remnants, you know, those last bits that don't get cooked).

Rinse about 3 tablespoon fulls of the bean mix under cold water.  The brine is just awful in soup.  Throw the beans into the soup.

Add a handful of frozen mixed vegetables.  This will drop the temperature, but shouldn't stop the boiling at this point.

Cut 2 slices of onion and 4 slices of leek into small pieces, and dice the small zucchini.  Throw this in with the soup.

Add 1/2 cup of pasta sauce and chopped basil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Allow soup to boil until the pasta is cooked. 

Spoon half the saucepans worth into a bowl.  Add boiling water and stir to a pleasing consistency.  Serve.

The remaining bit can be refrigerated or frozen for use later on. 

I meant to photograph the soup, but both meals were eaten so quickly.  However, I still have leftovers to make more from scratch if need be.