I have so much going on at the moment! That is my excuse for not blogging as much as I normally do. I’ve started doing a bit of freelance work (blogging for some guys I used to work for), and it’s got me thinking about setting up a little social media content business! It’s exciting! All I can say at this stage is that it’s early days (but of course, if you are a business – especially a food business – and you need help with your social media content, email me!), but it feels good to be getting back into the world again. Of course, I am totally torn between getting back into the world of paid work (it was amazing drinking cups of tea whilst they are still hot) and making sure my baby has the right childcare. Still, I’m only talking about 1 or 2 days a week to begin with, so we’ll see… I’ve also been doing some food writing for a new local magazine, which is beyond exciting I must say. I’ll post a link when the magazine goes live…
So, that’s what I’ve been busy with. I haven’t been cooking so much ‘new stuff’. The old brain has been a bit too occupied with other things; my creative juices have all been soaked up. Today though I fancied using up some vegetables that were in the fridge as we’re away for the weekend tomorrow. So I concocted this soup. It’s kind of pea and mint, but with a lot more bang for your veggie buck. With 6 different types of vegetables in there, as well as a generous shout of fresh herbage, it’s SO good for you. It’s one of those very healthy dishes like Thai beef salad or Mee goreng that I completely love – and the fact that they are low calorie is just a bonus. I happen to have tried out the Fast Diet (AKA 5:2 Diet) this week. Day one, good. Day two, quit half way though – turns out fasting with a massive hangover is really hard. Anyway I may go back to it next week, we’ll see how self-discipline is… in the meantime, I’m just trying to eat healthily, if you are too then give this a whirl.
You could swirl some Greek yoghurt or extra virgin olive oil to serve, but I didn’t think it needed it, opting instead for a little grind of black pepper.
To make a large pan of soup, to serve 6-8
100g spinach
500g frozen peas
4 carrots, diced
1 head of lettuce (I used a Little Gem), chopped into chunks
1 large onion, diced
2 sticks of celery, diced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1l of vegetable stock (I used a decent organic bouillon), made to 1/2 its strength
Large handful of fresh mint
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
- Warm your oil in a large pan (it needs to be big, this makes a lot of soup). Soften your onions, celery and garlic over a medium heat for about 10-15 minutes. Don’t let the vegetables colour.
- Add your carrots and cook gently for another 10 minutes until a little soft. Stir often so they don’t stick.
- Pour over hot, weak vegetable stock. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 25 minutes.
- For the last 10 minutes, add the lettuce and peas.
- When 5 minutes is left, add the spinach and mint.
- Blend the soup. You won’t need to season with salt if you used a shop bought stock, but if it’s homemade you may need it.
