Winter soup inspiration

With winter due to make it's entrance at the end of the week, it's gets me thinking about soup. Gorgeous, warming, comforting hugs in a bowl.

Dunno about you, but it's starting to cool down a bit here, mainly in the nights and mornings. The winds are blowing through straight from the antarctic, with a numbing chill. The heating is on more often than not. Can I just crawl up in a ball and hide until spring?

Any day that has me reaching for a scarf or cardi (that's a cardigan, not a Kath and Kim chardonnay), makes me crave comfort food. I've posted a few soup recipes in my time here, so here's a recap for inspiration,  just incase you've been thinking about soup too.



Broccoli and stilton soup

Cauliflower soup  

Thai chicken noodle soup

Leek, bacon and potato soup

Red lentil and sweet potato soup

Chickeny lentil soup

For more comforting winter warmers make sure you have a look at my other recipe blog posts.

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Red lentil and coconut dhal

I like to spoil myself for lunch and cook yummy stuff just for me. Some days I need to be kind to myself, to treat myself well. Be comforted with something warming and healthy. It's also a perfect accompaniment to these bitey winter days.  

The bonus is it tastes satisfyingly good. The kids wouldn't touch this with a barge pole though. No one in this house appreciates my cooking finesse! That's OK, more for me, they can eat boring nuggets or sausages (which they would have no complaints about)!

I appreciate the days Summer and Izzy are at school and kindy. I need those days to catch up. To calm the overwhelm. I am in a state of tenseness (mainly in my shoulders) most of the time. 

In the last six years I haven't had a break away on my own. A break from being a mum, a wife and housekeeper. It's taking a toll on me. I need a weekend away by myself. No kids, no husband. Just me. 

Finding that weekend seems near impossible any time soon. I just have to keep plugging away and savouring the breaks where I get them. I need to nourish myself well, mind and body. I have too many people to care for and no one to look after me. Except me. So I need to do a bloody good job!

A recent course I undertook, to do with food and health, encouraged you to eat as many different ingredients in a day as you could. About 25 - 30 different foods was the recommendation for obtaining as many nutrients as possible from natural sources. 

This recipe has more than ten, so it's a good start to reaching that goal, along with a great breakfast and evening meal filled with healthy natural foods.

Red lentil and coconut dhal

1 medium onion, chopped finely
1 stick celery, sliced
2 tablespoons oil
2 teaspoons finely grated ginger
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 teaspoons cumin
1 star anise
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
1 fresh green chilli
3 cups water
375 gram packet of dried red lentils
1 can coconut milk
500 grams diced pumpkin

Fry onion and celery in oil over a medium heat until onion is transparent.

Add garlic, ginger, cumin, star anise, coriander, turmeric and chilli, stir for one minute.

Stir in lentils and coconut milk, bring to boil.

Reduce heat, stir in pumpkin and simmer covered until lentils and pumpkin are tender, about 25 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper.

I like to serve it with a dollop of natural yogurt, fresh coriander and mint scattered on top.

• Remember not to eat the star anise, it's not that palatable, however I don't mind chewing on it to get the flavour out of it and then spitting it out. It's not for everybody.
• Instead of pumpkin, try other veggies like eggplant, zucchini or sweet potato. Even carrots, broccoli and peas!
• Keep peeled ginger in the freezer. It won't perish in the bottom of the fridge and is easy to grate when frozen and pop the rest back in the freezer for another time.
• I also freeze any herbs that are threatening to turn feral in the fridge, like coriander. The stalks give so much flavour to soups and casseroles. You'll be saving money too by keeping it for later.

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Celery and potato soup

I knew I felt like soup for lunch. The days are getting pretty cool in the south east of South Australia. It's feeling very much like comfort food weather, soup weather. 

I'd ducked into the supermarket, there greeting me as I walked in, were bunches of celery for one whole dollar. Yes please! 

I came home and made soup for lunch, and it was choice!

The leftover celery I wrapped in alfoil, and kept in the fridge. I saw this tip on Facebook a while ago, and it really works. The celery stays crisp for a couple of weeks. 

It's probably one of the top veggies that gets chucked out, because it never gets used up before it goes all limp and boring.

You can slice it up and freeze it for later use, in casseroles and soups. Better than chucking money away.

When I was a kid, I loved it spread with peanut butter. I can't bring my kids to love it though, they've never been big lovers of peanut butter. Celery they do love to crunch on though. At least it is one veggie I know Izzy will eat. Fresh anyway, she is not a cooked veggie lover. She'll only eat cooked corn cobs, that's it. It's a good thing she likes her veggies raw and crunchy, as I'd never get her to eat them. She would never go for this soup.  

So. I had two bowls for lunch.....

Celery and potato soup

1 tablespoon of butter
1 onion, sliced
1 large potato, or 2 small ones
5 big stalks of celery
700 mls water or veggie stock
1/2 cup milk
salt and pepper

Place the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Cook the onion, potato and celery for 5 minutes.

Add the water/stock and simmer for 20 minutes. 

Puree the soup in a blender or with a stick blender. 

Put the saucepan of soup back on the heat, add the milk. Stir to warm through the milk. Season with salt and pepper. 

Serving suggestions 

• Serve with crispy bacon or pancetta
• A sprinkle of paprika and blue cheese(pictured)
• crusty bread
• drizzled with chilli oil

Do you love your veggies fresh and crunchy, or cooked? 
Did you ever have celery with peanut butter?

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