Tomato, chickpea and chicken soup...

With the cooler weather, there is nothing better than a warming soup to eat for dinner.  This soup was inspired by a soup my friend had while we were out for lunch.  I added a chicken breast for additional protein (and also because I had one that needed to be used!).  My soup was served with homemade olive and rosemary bread, sliced with delicious butter!  The soup itself is quite healthy and delicious.

Ingredients:

3 x 400g tins or lovely organic chopped tomotoes

approximately 2 - 3 cups of water

1 large red onion diced

1 medium carrot diced

2 sticks of celery chopped

1 x 400g tin of chickpeas

1 x chicken breast

garlic, salt and pepper to taste

harissa paste to taste

How to!

1. lightly sweat down the onions, carrot, celery and garlic in a 4 litre pot until slightly cooked
2. add the tinned tomatoes and water and bring to a light boil.
3. add seasonings - continue to taste through out.
4. turn heat down and add the chicken breast, cook for about 15 - 17 minutes.
5. remove chicken breast and roughly chop
6. using a stick blender, give the soup a quick blend so it thickens but still has chunky pieces in it!
7. Add chicken back to the soup with drained and washed chick peas.
8. Cook for another 5 minutes or until chickpeas are heated through.
9. Serve with bread and garnish with chopped parsley.

Cauliflower and Leek Soup Recipe

Sometimes you make a soup that just tastes amazing!  This was one of those soups.  Inspired by the fact that  there were a bunch of veggies that needed to be used in my fridge, this creamy soup was super tasty!

For this soup I used:

A whole head of cauliflower

2 small leeks, trimmed to white and light green sections

1 small brown onion

4 small potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunky cubes

veggie stock to cover

3 -4 rashers of bacon

olive oil

butter

To serve:

cream

chopped parsley

salt and pepper

How to:

• lightly sweat down the leeks and onion in a pot with a dollop of olive oil and a little bit of butter.
• add the chopped cauliflower and potatoes and stir to lightly cook and coat in butter and oil (a couple of minutes)
• add stock to cover and lightly simmer for approximately 20 minutes.
• while soup is simmering, cook bacon to your liking.  I tend to grill mine in the full rashers, then chop up afterwards.
• Use a stick blender to blend to a smooth consistency.  I don't like mine too smooth, but this is up to you!
• serve in a bowl, top with bacon, chopped parsley and a drizzle of cream.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

This is a great meal with a side of crusty bread or even garlic bread during those super cold months.  Even my husband claimed that this was "more delicious than he thought it was going to be".  Really?!  Yes, he was pleasantly surprised!

Carrot soup...

When you end up with too many carrots, in this house you make soup! I added a recipe for this soup a while ago which you can find here but it is such a delicious favorite that I had to post a photo of the finished product in it's delicious orangeness!

I also recently bought a new blender, chopper thing and used the slicing function on it to quickly chop up all of the ingredients for the soup.  It's amazing how quick it made it all and I think the soup was prepared, cooked and served within 30 minutes.  Wowsers!  I don't think that there is anything wrong with chopping things in a food processor, especially if they are going to be blended at the end.  Maybe give it a go when you are a little time poor for this soup.