Tomato and Basil Soup topped with Quinoa

I love a good homemade soup. They are not only easy to make but when you make soup yourself you know exactly what has gone into making it. My favourite flavour combination for soup has to be the classic tomato and basil. This soup contains so much goodness and is full of delicious flavours.

This is what I did...

Root Vegetables and Pearl Barley Broth with Crunchy Welly Ham Topping #ThriftyEats

As you will no doubt already know, I am all for saving money on our weekly shopping and love to create budget meals. When creating a new budget busting recipe it is essential that quality and flavour is not compromised. Just because you are being thrifty in the kitchen does not mean that your meals are going to lack on flavour or goodness!

So when I received an email from Welly Foods just after Christmas asking me if I would like to create a thrifty meal using some of their delicious, British ham or chicken I jumped at the chance as I knew that it would be perfect for the Hijacked By Twins ethos, good, wholesome food that does not cost the earth and what the whole family will love!

At this time of year soups and broths make a perfect meal, it is pure comfort in a bowl. Sitting in the warm with a bowl of soup and some freshly made bread, perfect. So with this in mind I got planning my recipe. I love to eat as seasonal as we can as this not only ensures we get vegetables while they are at their best but also helps to keep the prices down as seasonal vegetables tend to be cheaper to buy. At this time of year the root vegetables are definitely the stars of the season. When shopping for root vegetables most supermarkets sell great bags of mixed root that are often labelled as stew packs. That is what I have used for this broth, to bulk it out I have added super thrifty pearl barley and topped it with a crunchy ham topping.

This is what I did...

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

Soups are a perfect winters lunch. They are warming, super healthy and full of nutritional goodness. If you make your own they are even slimming! One of my favourite soups has to be a good old tomato soup. The tomato is such a versatile ingredient and it is an ideal base for soups. My recipe today uses the base of tomatoes but the other vegetables really are the stars of the show.

For this soup I have used roasted vegetables. Roasting vegetables gives them an added boost of flavour, their sweetness really does come through and transforms their overall flavours. Combined with the trusty tomato this soup is a bowlful of healthy deliciousness.

This is what I did...

Chunky Root Veg and Bean Soup

At this time of year I love a good warming bowl of soup. I find it so comforting, on a cold day to sit inside, snug and warm with a big bowl of soup. Not only is it a great comfort food but it is also a great way to get plenty of goodness into our diets.

While shopping the other day I spotted a stew vegetables bundle reduced down to just 25p and I knew it would be ideal for a soup so popped it into my basket! The vegetables that are in this super chunky soup are cheap roots and full of flavour.

This is what I did...

Degustabox October Contents and Tomato Pasta Soup Recipe

It is that time of the month again, it is time for me to tell you all about what came in this months Degustabox. October's Degustabox was loved by the kids and the hubby. There were so many treats that they could not wait to enjoy. 

For this months post I am going to be telling you about the products, but I am also going to share with you a simple recipe for a tomato pasta soup, or as the kids called it, Minion soup

Before I tell you about my soup let me show and tell you about what other products we received. This is what came in our last Degustabox...

Celeriac, Bacon and Cumin Soup

At this time of year I love a good soup. They are great as a lovely warming lunch or even as a light dinner. The best thing about soups is the added goodness that you get from all of the ingredients. With soups you can easily disguise vegetables that the children may not like but be happy that they are unknowingly eating and and most of all enjoying it. For us grown ups soup is a fabulous healthy option that can be bulked out with filling, good for you foods that will really keep you going for longer!

Today's soup uses celeriac. This is a vegetable that often gets over looked. It really is not the prettiest of vegetables but who says that is important? I would rather have a tasty, ugly vegetable than a pretty but horrible vegetable. Taste, at the end of the day, is what matters. Recently we have been having celeriac more and more. It is a cheaper vegetable and is so versatile. The other week I used it to make vegetable spaghetti and everybody loved it. The children did not even question what it was! It looked like spaghetti, it tasted good hence there were no questions. Celeriac also goes great in soup, it adds a really creaminess to the soup and one that I am sure you will love!

This is what I did...

BBQ Soup with New Covent Garden Soup Co

Soup is delicious at anytime of year, but this year New Covent Garden Soup Co are urging people to not just cook sausages and burgers on their barbecues but also some soup!

New Covent Garden Soup Co are deliciously fresh soups that are not only so full of flavour but are also a versatile ingredient. With your favourite New Covent Garden Soup Co flavour combination you can easily create a tasty side dish or revamp your vegetable skewers.

Today I am going to share with you a pasta dish that has been a huge success in our house. It is so quick and easy to make and is a delicious side dish, or a main meal.

For my recipe I have used New Covent Garden Soup Co Slow Roast Tomato. Their slow roast tomato, basil and balsamic vinegar soup goes perfectly with pasta. This soup is full of the flavours of the Mediterranean. To create the soup the cooks at New Covent Garden Soup Co have used a mixture of slow roasted and sun dried tomatoes which gives this soup a real depth of flavour. They then add garlic, basil and finished with balsamic vinegar to produce a "blissfully smooth bowl of rich soup". It also contains 2 of your recommended 5 a day!

This is what I did...

#CookBlogShare Week 19 - The Far Away Round Up

I know I say this every week, but wow it was difficult to select a theme for this weeks round up. I am not complaining. I love sitting and looking through all of the recipes and trying to narrow my selection down.

Last week there was a delicious variety of sweet treats, warming dishes, healthy meals and dishes from far away. This week it was the far away dishes that won. I loved the depth of flavours that were used in each of the recipes that I selected. All four are meals which we, as a family, would love to have for a meal.

Here are my four favourite recipes for my far away round up...

Butternut Squash and Chestnut Soup from Sunrise

Last year I tested a delicious Bailey's Cheesecake recipe that was sent from Sunrise Senior Living. So when they got in touch again and asked me to try out one of their new recipes I could not wait to see what new meals that had created.

The menus at Sunrise Senior Living are all created by Michelin star chefs and provide only the best quality of food to ensure that people in their care get all of the essential vitamins and nutrients from their meals. Not only do Sunrise provide excellent care but also serve delicious food!

After taking a good look at the menu I decided to have a go at making their Butternut Squash and Chestnut Soup. At this time of year soups are a perfect option for lunch on a cold day. They are a lot more satisfying that a boring old sandwich! Soups are not only delicious but they are a great way to consume more natural goodness.

Dining at Sunrise consists of...

• Tailored menus to meet residents’ individual dietary needs
• A choice of favourite classics, regional dishes, resident requests and healthy international recipes
• Finger food choices for residents who need easy-to-eat meals
• Crockery and cutlery designed to make dining easier for people living with dementia
• Fresh, seasonal ingredients chosen by our dining team
• Low-fat, low-sodium, high-fibre, high calcium, reduced-calorie, diabetic friendly and vegetarian choices
• Appetising and attractive food for people who find solids hard to swallow

This is how I got on making their soup...

Sweet Root Vegetables and Bean Soup

At this time of year I love to eat soups. They are not only a warming dish on a cold day but they are a healthy meal and also super cheap to make. When buying tinned soups in a shop you can pay anything from 65p up to £2 depending on the brand. If you are going to buy a fresh soup you can expect to pay up to £4, again, depending on the brand. Why spend that when you can make your own, with fresh ingredients and know exactly what has been put in it. No added nasties such as preservatives or ingredients that you do not know what they are.

When I went to Aldi to pick up a few ingredients I saw one of their stew packs of root vegetables for just £1.29 for 1.5kg of vegetables I knew that I had my ingredients for a deliciously, warming soup.

This is what I did...

Freekeh Stuffed Peppers - #CookBlogShare Week 4

You may have noticed recently I have been enjoying more and more vegetarian meals and wanted to change one of my favourite dishes into a meat free version.

I love roasted peppers, especially red, yellow and orange ones. Roasting them transforms their flavours and I normally enjoy them stuffed with a minced beef sauce. Making it into a meat free dish was easy. Like with a lot of my other meat free favourites I simply substitute the meat with a grain or lentils. With this recipe I have used the grain, freekeh.

Freekeh is a fairly new grain to me. I have used it in the past a couple of times. Freekeh is a cereal food made from green wheat that is roasted. It is used in a lot of Arabic meals and originates from there. Freekeh contains up to three times more fibre and protein than brown rice and is low in calories! So not only does it have a delicious nutty flavour it is also very good for you! I must admit that I love this grain, it has a lot more flavour that rice and is so easy to add to meals. With this dish, it went perfectly!

This is what I did...

Spicy Tomato and Butternut Squash Soup

We recently had a glut of lovely, fresh, homegrown tomatoes. They all seemed to go red around the same time hence having so many.

My favourite thing to cook when we have so many tomatoes is a soup. You can't beat a good, homemade soup. They beat pre made, shop bought soups any day and are so much healthier. They are also so easy to make at home and a great way to use up any vegetables that may be getting to the end of their best. If you make a big pan of soup it is easy to divide up into freezer bags to freeze. To defrost simply place the frozen soup in a pan over a medium heat until it has reheated! In my soups the only thing that I add to the vegetables is a stock cube for a bit of extra flavouring, there are no hidden nasties which makes them so much better for you than mass produced soups.

This is what I did....

Sweet Mama Squash and Tomato Soup

During the cold months there is nothing better than a warming lunch of homemade soup.

This week in my organic vegetables box I received a Sweet Mama Squash. Squash is a perfect base for a wholesome soup. I often find that if it is cooked any other way my children won't eat it, but give them a soup with squash in and they will demolish it! Plus soups are a sneaky way of getting some more vegetables in them!

This is what I did...

Sweet Mama Squash and Tomato Soup

Ingredients

400g sweet mama squash, diced
4 shallots, chopped
1 stalk of celery, sliced
1 large red Ramiro pepper, chopped
1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1 vegetable stock cube

Method

1 - Place all of the vegetables in either a soup maker or a pan

2 - Pour over the chopped tomatoes

3 - Place the stock cube in the empty tin, fill with boiling water and mix until the stock cube has dissolved then pour into the soup maker or pan

4 - Either start the soup maker on a smooth setting or bring the ingredients to the boil then simmer for approximately 20 minutes or until the vegetables have softened

5 - If cooking in a pan, remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before blitzing in a blender until smooth

This soup is delicious on its own, or why not add some fresh seeded bread. To make it a little bit creamier add a teaspoon of cream to each bowl before serving.

If you are following the Slimming World plan this is a delicious syn free soup!

Enjoy x

I am sharing this recipe with Honest Mum - Tasty Tuesdays and A Mummy Too - Recipe of the Week

Leek, Potato and Bacon Soup

As autumn draws in and the weather starts to get cooler soups are a perfect dish for either lunch or an evening meal. I love the simplicity of soups and how easy they are to make. They are also so much better for you than the tinned versions which contain more ingredients than really necessary.

Today's soup is a favourite of the hubby's. This soup is also great for freezing, and as all of the ingredients are already cooked you can simply remove from the freezer and heat in a pan, great for the times when you are in a hurry! This soup came about after the hubby asked me to add some bacon into my traditional leek and potato soup. My hubby is a true carnivore and is not keen on meals that are only vegetables. I will admit that I am pleased that the hubby asked me to add the bacon as it completely transformed this soup!

This is what I do...

Leek, Potato and Bacon Soup

Ingredients

1 large/2 medium leeks, sliced
3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 celery sticks
6 rashers smoked bacon, chopped
1.5ltr vegetable stock
Black pepper
Double cream to serve

Method

1 - Place the leeks and potatoes into a pan of boiling stock and simmer for 45 minutes

2 - While the vegetables are cooking gently fry the bacon

3 - Once the vegetables have simmered for 45 minutes remove from the heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes before blending

4 - Once all of the soup has been blended, return 3 ladles of soup back to the blender and add 3/4 of the crispy bacon and blend, pour back into the remaining soup and mix well

5 - Season with black pepper to taste

To serve drizzle over a little double cream and some of the remaining pieces of crispy bacon. This soup is delicious on it's own or accompanied with some freshly made bread. This is a perfect soup for lunch on a cold autumn or winter day. I will be putting some in a flask for the hubby to take to work!

Even the twins love this tasty soup!

Enjoy x

I am sharing my soup recipe with Casa Costello and Romanian Mum Blog - Foodie Friday and Honest Mum - Tasty Tuesdays

Butternut Squash, Leek and Lentil Soup

At this time of year I love a good homemade soup.

It is a perfect, warming lunch for a cold day.

I often look in my fridge and use whatever needs using.

Soups are a great way to use up any vegetables that are starting to get beyond their best.

On this occasion I had a lovely butternut squash and some leeks.

This is what I came up with...

 

Butternut Squash, Leeks and Lentil Soup

 

Ingredients

1 butternut squash, chopped

3 leeks, sliced

200g red lentils

1 litre of vegetable stock

2 bay leaves

Black pepper

2 tsp chopped parsley

 

 

 

Method

 

1 - Bring a litre of water to the boil.

 

2 - Once the water has come to the boil add the chopped vegetables and 2 vegetable stock cubes, bay leaves and parsley. I like to use fresh herbs out of our garden but you can use dried herbs if you do not have fresh.

 

3 - Bring to the boil and then simmer for 15 minutes.

 

4 - Rinse the lentils and then add to the vegetables and stock.

 

5 - Continue to simmer until the vegetables are soft.

 

6 - Once the vegetables are soft remove from the heat and allow to cool before blending into a soup.

 

I love the addition of lentils in this soup.

They add thickness and so much flavour to the soup and not to mention the added nutritional benefits! 

This soup is delicious served with some freshly baked cheese and red onion focaccia, fresh bread or croutons.

It is perfect on a cold winters day!

Enjoy x

 

 

I have shared this recipe on A Mummy Too's Recipe of the Week take a look, there are so many yummy recipes!

 

http://www.amummytoo.co.uk/2013/11/recipeoftheweek-7-13-dec

 

Super soup

I am constantly trying to ensure that all of my children are getting the essential vitamins and minerals from what I cook for them.

One great way of that is my Super Soup. It is fab for the kids but also good for mum and dad!

Ingredients:

4 good sized carrots
1 lg or 2 med parsnips
4 med potatoes
2 white onions
1/2 turnip
Bag of spinach (approx 120g)
400g tin chopped tomatoes
Tomato purée to taste
Handful of fresh parsley chopped
Handful of fresh chives chopped
Either a baby vegetable stock cube or a reduced salt one
Dried herbs and seasoning to taste

Method:

1 - Chop up the carrots, parsnips, potatoes, onions and turnip
2 - Boil a pan of water and when boiling add the stock cube stir until dissolved and then add the chopped vegetables, fresh parsley and fresh chives
3 - Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 30 mins until all the vegetables are soft
4 - Add the bag of spinach, chopped tomatoes and some tomato purée to taste
5 - Turn the heat up and boil. Once its reached boiling point turn down the heat and simmer for 5 mins
6 - Season to taste, I usually add some thyme and black pepper
7 - Once its cooled blend it up and you're done

For the twins I add a drop of full cream milk and add bits of freshly homemade bread. This goes down a treat with both them and me, its delicious for them and I'm happy knowing that they are having a healthy nutritious meal. This soup is also a great guilt free lunch for me!

Enjoy x