Autumnal minestrone soup recipe

I'm not exaggerating when I say that this soup has been saving my life over the past month. Okay, okay that might be a slight exaggeration. BUT, it's been making my life a hell of a lot easier, and helped me fight off the god awful cold that plagued me at the start of September. I make this in a massive bulk, freeze it out and have it as my lunch at work. It's perfect because it's filling and healthy and I still haven't got sick of it. Sorta. 13 portions in and I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed.

Warming vegetable soup recipe

Cooking is one of my favourite things to do, but in the run up to the Christmas season I've been finding my time a little pushed for making recipes that take longer than half an hour in total (this includes prep). I work in a restaurant and it is starting to get a little hectic right now, so my shifts are increasing, getting longer and getting a little bit more stressful.
So, on my day off last week I whipped up a massive batch of this homemade vegetable soup. And I mean massive: I had 17 portions of it in the end. My freezer has been looking a little rammed, but it has made for an easy lunch each day, giving me that extra little bit of time to chill out. The winter colds have been doing their rounds at the moments, but this soup is so stuffed with goodness that I'm hoping *fingers crossed* it'll stop me from getting one ... again. 
An added bonus really is that it is so cheap to make. All of the ingredients I used came to around £3 altogether, which makes each portion around 18p to make!
Ingredients:
4 salad tomatoes 3 sticks of celery 3 carrots 6 potatoes 3 small onions (or 1 large onion) 6 cloves garlic 2 400g cans of haricot beans 1 400g can of chickpeas 3 handfuls brown pasta 2 pints chicken stock Olive oil Chili flakes Salt and pepper Mixed herbs
Method:
1.) The prep time of this soup is going to take up most of your time, so prepare yourself for a lot of chopping. Before you start any actual cooking, dice the carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, celery and onion. Mince your garlic cloves. 2.) Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large saucepan (I use a big casserole pan for mine). Add the onions and garlic and cook until softened.  3.) Whilst this is cooking make your stock. 4.) Add in all of the rest of the vegetables and a pinch or two of chili flakes, Stir for one minute. 5.) Season with salt and pepper. Add the stock.  6.) Simmer for 15 minutes. 7.) Add the beans, chickpeas, pasta and a tablespoon of mixed herbs (or to taste). Simmer for another 15-20 minutes. 
And that's it folks. It's actually a really easy soup to make. There's only a small chance of really burning it, which is something that I definitely need. If you want, you can also add a little grated cheese to your bowl, because, well, who doesn't love cheese?
What's your favourite soup recipe for this time of year?
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Warming Vegan Chickpea and Tomato Soup

Autumn is upon us (and by the looks of it Winter is coming too!), and so my mind has turned to making homemade soups. As someone who's lactose intolerant, I often find it incredibly difficult to buy yummy tomato soups that don't have some form of dairy in, so I've been making my own for a couple of years now. However, this week I tried something a little different, by adding chickpeas and haricot beans to my normal recipe.
So, here's what you need for two portions:
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes 1 tablespoon tomato puree 1 small red onion 2 cloves garlic 1 small tin of chickpeas 1 small tin of haricot beans Coconut oil Fresh basil Salt and pepper
And here's how you make it:
1.) Heat the coconut oil in a saucepan. 2.) Chop the onion and garlic 3.) Place the onion and garlic in the oil and cook until soft 4.) Add the tomatoes, chickpeas, haricot beans, tomato puree and salt and pepper 5.) Simmer for 15 minutes 6.) Stir in the basil and you're done!
This is a great basic dish that you can add anything that's "on the verge", as I like to call, it in the fridge to - I usually end up putting some red pepper, carrot, peas, green beans, etc. in it: anything goes really! The other great thing about it (which makes it my favourite easy lunch of all time) is that you can bulk make it and freeze a whole load of portions, aka lunch for days!
What's your favourite Autumn soup dish?

Healthy Chicken Paella Soup

This summer was the first time in years in which I've travelled to another country. I was fortunate enough to spend a week in coastal Malaga, Spain with my boyfriend in June. Here I tried paella for the first time and fell in love with it. I'm not the world's greatest seafood fan, so what I ate wasn't *true* paella as it was chicken and chorizo based, but hey, it was paella in Spain so I'm counting it. During a bout of why-does-English-weather-suck in September I caved and bought a chicken paella meal soup from Sainsburys (try it, trust me you won't regret it). Living on a student budget and wanting to be as healthy as possible however, led me to create my own recipe - here it is!

Ingredients (makes 2 servings):

1 small chicken breast

2 cloves garlic

50g peas

1 can chopped tomatoes

60g brown rice

1 tsp lemon juice

Paprika

Ground black pepper

Salt

Thyme

Basil

Dried chopped chili

Parsley

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1.) Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. 

2.) Boil some water for the rice. Start cooking the rice. Remember to check the pack for how long to cook it, but brown rice should take about 25 minutes to cook. I actually prefer brown rice to white rice, which is a win when you're trying to eat clean, but the recipe works equally well with white (although you'll have to adjust cooking times). 

2.) Pour a little bit of olive oil over the chicken. Season with ground black pepper, salt and basil. The olive oil helps to keep it from drying our whilst cooking so that you get a lovely juicy chicken. 

3.) Once the chicken is in the oven (it should take about 20 minutes to cook) you can start working on the sauce. Finely chop or crush the garlic. Heat a tiny bit of extra virgin olive oil in a pan and cook the garlic for one minute. 

4.) Add the chooped tomatoes. Now comes the seasoning. Add a pinch of the dried chopped chili, basil, thyme and parsley. Season with ground black pepper to your liking. Now it's time for the key ingredient: paprika. I'm not the greatest fan of spicy food, so if you are it may be wise to adjust the spice measurements to your liking. I usually end up putting between 1/2 and 1 teaspoon of paprika in. The best idea is to measure along the way to make sure you adjust it to your liking. 

5.) Leave the sauce to simmer on a low heat for 15 minutes.

6.) Whilst it's cooking, boil some water for the peas. Cook for roughly five minutes. Add the peas to the sauce.

7.) By now the chicken should be cooked. Slice it up into thin strips and add to the sauce.

8.) Finally add the rice and serve. You can reheat the second serving for another day. 

Love and Light,

Steph :)

**DISCLAIMER** 

All photos are property of Sophie Hartley

Chunky salmon and tomato soup recipe

Salmon and tomato aren't the most traditional pairing I know, but I really love the taste of this recipe. It took me ages to devise a name for it because it's quite a versatile dish - it can be used as a chunky soup, a pasta sauce, as a pizza topping, anything really. They all taste delicious IMO, but I make it most often as a soup. 

Salmon has so many beneficial properties, but honestly? I find the taste of cooked salmon a little too strong for my liking. Mixing it in with the ingredients of this soup mutes the flavour a little, so it still comes through but without being overpowering. 

Ingredients (makes 2 servings):

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 red onion

1 clove garlic

70g salmon 

Lemon juice

Salt

Ground black pepper

Parsley

Basil

Dried, chopped chili

Method:

1.) Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius (180 for a fan oven).

2.) Place the salmon skin side down on a sheet of foil. Pour a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil over it and rub in with the back of the spoon. Squeeze a little bit of lemon juice and sprinkle a little bit of sea salt, ground black pepper and parsley over the top.

3.) Loosely wrap the foil around the salmon so that it comes together at the top. Place in the oven for 20 minutes.

4.) Whilst that cooks, finely chop the onion and garlic.

5.) Heat the second teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened. 

6.) Add the chopped tomatoes and leave to simmer for 15 minutes.

7.) Take the salmon out from the oven, unwrap and finely chop.

8.) Add the salmon, basil and chili to the tomato mixture and stir. 

Enjoy! 

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Vegan Creamy Tomato Soup

Heinz's Tomato Soup is my absolute number one go-to comfort food. So, when I cut dairy from my diet because it really was making me poorly I was gutted. I'm not a fan of thin cup-a-soup style soups that have no dairy in and I felt stuck. After having a look at a few different dairy-free recipes, I mixed them up a bit and came up with this. It's sweet and comforting, without all the nasty additions that are in pre-made soups. My only warning is that the taste of coconut comes through a fair bit, so if you don't like it, then you probably won't like this! This recipe takes less than ten minutes to prep and cook, so is pretty brill for a quick fix lunch! 

Chunky Tomato, Onion and Carrot Soup

I'm all about my comfort foods. Whether it's a steaming plate of nachos (heaven), or some cheeky magic stars, when I'm feeling low I always turn to food. However, I've been trying to make some serious changes recently. Rather than going completely cold turkey on the food I love, I'm working my way towards finding healthy alternatives.