Small victory in the kitchen today – my vegetable soup turned out lovely

Get yourself a shopping trolly PigeonFancier 1956.
I wouldn’t be without my Mary Poppins one. It holds so much.

I second that! You can’t pick up bargains in any vegetable market without the risk of ending up like The Hunchback of Notre Dame! Vegetables ARE heavy, but there are wonderful baskets and smart shoppers on wheels which would make life so much more manageable and enjoyable for you.

Don't shout at me but I buy ready prepared veg for soup when it's reduced. I get a bag of soffrito which is diced onion, carrot and celery for 50p which is an ideal base for soup. Sometimes I get mushrooms if they're reduced. The soups are lovely but always different depending on what I have left to use up along with my bargains.

Enjoy the results of an excellent idea, Aveline 🧑‍🍳🍲

TBH celery is a must in any of my multi-veg soups.

I have started making soup recently. I prefer lumpy soup to smooth soup.

My favourite recipe at the moment is onion, celery, carrots plus any other vegetables I have around. I use stock made from a chicken frame. Add a tin of coconut milk, oregano, thyme, garlic. I also add a few red lentils to help thicken the soup. However, the best ingredient for me is a tin of cannellini beans. It just adds an extra something to the soup.

Aveline

Don't shout at me but I buy ready prepared veg for soup when it's reduced. I get a bag of soffrito which is diced onion, carrot and celery for 50p which is an ideal base for soup. Sometimes I get mushrooms if they're reduced. The soups are lovely but always different depending on what I have left to use up along with my bargains.

I buy the ready prepared soffrito too - mainly because I hate celery itself, but like to use the soffrito as a base for some soups or things like bolognaise. It definitely adds that extra something to certain dishes.

Nice recipes thanks. I am going to make soup tomorrow now. I always use chicken stock as a base . I used to always add curry but I am sick of that so just garlic and I have some coconut milk so will add that. Pumpkin is good and sweet potato.

Aveline

Don't shout at me but I buy ready prepared veg for soup when it's reduced. I get a bag of soffrito which is diced onion, carrot and celery for 50p which is an ideal base for soup. Sometimes I get mushrooms if they're reduced. The soups are lovely but always different depending on what I have left to use up along with my bargains.

Good for you. Much better for the planet than being thrown away. My daughter does Olio and always gives loads of free food away. I often have veg to use. She also compost anything that is too old to use. I just collect the cellophane packets. Our local authority is running a pilot to collect sweet papers, bubble wrap and any other clear plastic that can’t go in the normal recycling.

Carrot, ginger and honey soup is great in cold weather. Usual base of onion and celery but wack up the carrots, lots of grated fresh ginger and enough honey for a touch of sweetness. I use fresh chicken stock if I have it or use a veg or chicken stock pot if not, blend with added milk or coconut milk and season to taste plus a few fresh herbs if I have them, coriander is good with the coconut one. My soups are never the same as I chuck in what needs using and play around with different spices like harrissa or some added chilli flakes.

I like the idea of adding ginger into the carrot soup foxie45 thank you for sharing.
I made carrot and coriander from a prepared yellow sticker pack on Wednesday. I had to add some fresh coriander as it was quite tasteless. I have put a couple of portions in the freezer and will try adding ginger when I fetch them out.

Curried parsnip soup is good, but also add a tin of any beans or lentils, dried red lentils or some orzo to add texture and bulk. I rarely use a recipe but often start with onion, carrots and celery.

Roast vegetables. You can even buy a pack and/or add to it.

Bung them on a baking tray with some oil and whatever is to hand. Herbs, cumin , anything really.

Serve with feta sprinked on top and a nice flat bread.

Hope you soupers have discovered the joys of the stick blender; use it in the pan you made the soup in. mine is similar to

www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/russell-hobbs-go-create-white-electric-hand-blender-27550

I made a big pan of soup today with celery, onion, carrots, sweet potato , barley and red lentils, stock and mixed herbs. Plus some raw chicken thighs and half a bag of elderly frozen french beans which had got lost in the freezer. When cooked, I fished out the thighs, took out the bones and chopped the meat. Blend veg to chunky, return meat to soup.

My advice for any soup, use bullion. More expensive but so so much better. makes really cheap stuff taste good.

Spellchecker Sandye! Gold bullion I hope.
Soup: I prefer celeriac to celery. Less stringy.

We are grand fans of Minestrone with Fennel-

My recipe:

2 tblsps Evoo / extra virgin olive oil
2 cups shredded cabbage
2 medium courgettes / zucchine
1 large carrot
1 large onion
1 small fennel bulb
6 cups of chicken or vegetable broth ( home made )
White Alubia beans soaked overnight - 1 glass
1 cup small tiny pasta
1 cup fresh peas or French Green Beans

Heat Evoo in a large saucepan. Add the potato, cabbage, zucchine / carrot / onion
and fennel and sauté until veggies begin to color and add the broth and cook until the veggies are crisp but tender. DO NOT OVERCOOK THE VEGGIES.

ADD THE CANNELLLLINI BEANS AND THE PASTA UNTIL TENDER ( 10 minutes ) and watch and taste.

SEASON WITH SALT AND PEPPER AND FRESH PARSLEY AND TARRAGON AND A PINCH OF BLACK PEPPER ..

LET REST AND SERVE IN LARGE BOWLS.

cannelli beans !!!

Apologies for the typing error !!!!!!!!

I put a bag of frozen soffritto into just about every savoury recipe - an equal mix of chopped celery, carrots & onions - that's my base then I add whatever main vegetables and/or meat I have bought.

I had a bowl of home made soup for my lunch yesterday and today (enough left for tomorrow). It didn't start off as soup, it was a beef stew. I deliberately put in too much veg when I make a stew. This one had carrot, potato, onion, celery, turnip, parsnip, Jerusalem artichoke and some chpped up home grown butternut squash. When the remains were becoming soup, I added some tinned butterbeans and chickpeas (tins already opened for a previous meal) and bunged in some left over baked beans for good measure.

First day's soup was more like a veggie stew. For the rest, I added more water and mashed down the veg with a potato smasher.

I also make Chicken Soup when I have a chicken, boiling the bones for stock and adding the meat scraps, potato and carrot. Delicious. My Mum would make Pig's Head soup in a similar manner when I was a child and money was short. I prefer the chicken, but miss the brawn made from the pork scraps and jellified stock!

I like soup made with butternut squash. It’s easier to peel if it’s microwaved for a few minutes first (pricked with a fork first). I add some red lentils to thicken it and carrots and maybe sweet potato. A little cayenne pepper adds flavour. I then whizz it with my hand blender. It’s very tasty.

Try odd box and get it delivered.

If you have leftover onions, peppers ,garlic, ginger, carrots etc.
Fry everything except the carrots (steam or boil those, unless they’re cooked leftovers) then add some garam masala powder or paste, paprika, cinnamon, ground ginger and turmeric, about a tablespoon of each, or to your taste.
Add in a tin of coconut milk and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Use a stick blender or cup blender, to make a paste.
This makes a curry base, just as the restaurants do.
You can freeze it into portions (the volume that would fill a tin of tomatoes serves 2) Then when you come to make a curry, fry a few tablespoon of the curry paste of your choice, Madras, Korma etc. Add your protein, prawns, chicken, beef, Quorn etc and cook, then add your base mix. Makes great curries.

I would never have thought of putting coconut milk into soup. Does it make it a bit sweeter? I quite like using the stock that you buy in the supermarkets if I don't have any at home or in the freezer. I often buy "stew mix" from the supermarkets if it is yellow stickered, as it usually has everything I need.
My son is a whizz at soup making now, his favourite being brocolli and blue cheese. I must admit that is rather delicious, even though I don't like blue cheeses.