I am quite literally a soup-aholic! So when winter comes around the first thing I think of is the FASHION (love those layers, knits and boots!) and all the hearty, home-made comfort FOOD I can make at home. My mum has been a big influence in my cooking and I was lucky enough to grow up in an environment where pretty much all of my meals were made from scratch. We spent hours looking through recipes and coming up with vegetarian/pescatarian alternatives for me (I was the awkward one in the family!) and I guess all of that time spent in the kitchen helping her has rubbed off on me…….I actually struggle to buy soup from the supermarket as it does not compare at all.

Soup is the easiest thing to make and like a lot of my winter food I make a big pot so that I can freeze down what I don’t eat and have a nice supply to fall back on when I want the night off. You can be inventive and add cheese, herbs, curry powder (personal fave), chilli, spices the possibilities are endless really but nothing beats a simple cauliflower and broccoli soup to make you feel all warm and cosy.

You will need:

2 tbsp coconut oil

2 brown onions

1 stalk of celery, finely chopped

1 carrot sliced finely into discs

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 whole cauliflower

1 whole broccolli

2 cups of sweet potato or baby potatoes

500ml of vegetable stock

500ml of filtered water

**optional bread rolls to serve

Serves 4-6

Method:

•  Heat the oil in a large saucepan, cook the onion and garlic until softened. Add the celery and carrot and cook for a few minutes until starting to soften.
•  Add the stock, bring to the boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer.
• Add the Sweet potato/potato and cook for 10-15 minutes, then add the broccoli and cauliflower for a further 10 minutes, add in the filtered water here, just enough to cover the ingredients.
• Simmer for a further 10 minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked/soft.
•  Season soup to taste.
• Blend the soup in a high speed blender. I like to leave some chunky vegetables to one side and add them in to the blended soup afterwards.
• Season to taste.
• Serve by ladling into bowls, stir in any herbs (I like parsley) and finish with torn bread rolls.
• Enjoy x x

** you can substitute any of the veggies for other ones such as peas, spinach, zucchini and so on.