For the first couple of years of my soup making I pretty much stuck to 'single thing' soups, so basically it would be water, stock powder and one thing

tomato
lentil
pea
celery

these were my main stays

my main exotic was a two thing soup - leek and potato !

But recently i've swung to the other extreme and I now regularly make big panfuls of soup with a dozen or more ingrediants and I save 'bits of things'............whenever i have any veg I'll save a bit, like one carrot, or three spuds out of a bag

I think I've gone too far now though and in my desire to get as many different things as possible the size of my panful of soup has expanded until it would now last me for about 5 days, but after 3 days I tend to chuck it away because I want something different and I also worry about it beginning to go off even if I keep it in the fridge..............

I think I need to get back to simple one or two thing soups...........

We regularly make huge "buckets" of soup. What we don't use, we freeze.

I haven't got a freezer..........just a 40 year old fridge with a little 'freezer compartment' in it...........

And i don't want to be eating the same meal 5 days running, 2 or 3 days is OK though

Since joining weight watchers I have made this fat free soup every week and I love it as does everyone who has tried it, including one very fussy daughter who hates veg of any kind! I made up the recipe myself as I can't be bothered to roast veg first and messing around with extra washing up.

Into a large saucepan put two chopped red peppers, 4 chopped carrots, 1 chopped butternut squash, 1 large onion(chopped) and two whole cloves of garlic and any tomatoes which you want to use up or have gone too mushy for using in a salad or slicing. Then add 2 veg stock cubes, a pinch of chilli flakes and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Using the tin from the tomatoes, add two tinfuls of water. Boil and then simmer for about 20 mins then blend with a hand blender to whatever consistency you like.

This makes 5 decent sized bowls of soup, and if you don't use it all together it freezes brilliantly!

ham and lentil soup is my favourite thing in the world.

I buy a ham hock from morrisons and boil for an hour, changing the water once
I also buy a stew pack and a leek. been told never to add onion as it makes soup go off quicker?
cut the leeks and fry them off.
i get my food processer and grate the rest of my veg - 1 parsnip, 3 carrots, 2 white potatoes and swede. Add all veg to the stock with a few handfulls of lentils and simmer until lentils have broke down. Add a twists of blackpepper and bobs your uncle.
Dont add salt and stock is salty enough from ham.
i really want this right now!!

Chicken and vegetable soup:

4-6 boney pieces of chicken (I use a mix of legs and thighs), skin removed
1 carrot, diced
1 stick of celery, diced
1 leek, sllced
2 Knorr stockpots - 1 chicken, 1 veg (or two of either)
couple of twists of freshly ground black pepper
handful of chopped, fresh parsley
enough water to go about two inches on top of the chicken

Chuck everything into a saucepan (bar the parsley), and bring to a simmer for 45mins to 1 hour.
Just before serving, stir through the chopped parsley.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1/P1010907.jpg

Cawl is one of Wales's national dishes and I absolutely love it.

It's not technically a soup - more of a broth, but it's ideal for winter.
There are regional variations but here is my mum's recipe:

Braising beef
2 or 3 carrots
Half a swede
1 parsnip
7 potatoes
3 leeks
parsley

The above amounts can be varied based on what you like . whether you want it more meaty or more veg-based etc.

Cut the beef into cubes and put in a large saucepan.
Fill to the top with water
Bring to a simmer slowly until a scum appears on the top.
Skim off the scum.
Add the cubed swede and carrot and cook a little.
Add salt to taste
Add the cubed parsnip and potatoes and cook more
Top up with water if necesary
Add the sliced leeks and cook for a further fifteen minutes

Five minutes before serving, add parsley and (optionally) a teaspoon of flour made into a paste with a little water. This will thicken the liquid a little.

Serve hot with bread and cheese.

Absolutely gorgeous the next night as a 'warm-up' with all the flavours infused and delicious.

That sounds great. How much beef? Maybe just one of those standard plastic trays. About 500g? May add a drop pearl barley too.

Yes about that much I'd say.
You can dice it quite finely or have it more chunky.

It's a bit of an 'anything goes' really, and you can add what you like.
The leeks are essential though, because they have such a distinctive flavour. They unravel a little as well and meld beautifully iinto the liquid.

Just made celery soup............6 sticks of celery, half a large onion, two cloves garlic, about a pint and a half of water, two teaspoons of bouillon stock

just letting it cool before sticking in the blender then I'll have some nice hot soup for the next 3 days............serve with lots of pepper.


I bought a cauliflower this morning to have as veg over the next few days................just thinking that when I've cut most of the florets off to have as a veg I'll have the stump left over which is quite big.........that must be edible ?

So thought I might cut up the stump and have it in a soup with lentils, onion and garlic ?

Does that sound like a good idea ............has anyone ever used up a cauliflower stump in soup ?

Waste not want not !

I always use the stump when I use cauliflower for anything, including soup and even raw, for dips.

cheers kim...........I'll give that a go in a couple of days when I've finished my celery soup !

I've done similar for broccoli, although usually peel it first, else can be stringy.

I made this yesterday annette. Lovely it was, although I maybe could have had a wee bit more garlic, but I will do that next time.

Enjoy, swing! I've only made a limited number of soups. Have you had miso soup (bought not made!)?


Yes, good tip

Cauliflower cheese soup:

Whole large cauliflower
2 onions
1 medium potato
Chicken stock
large splash of milk
Strong cheddar
Mustard powder (have also used chili powder)

Saute onions then add chopped potatoes and cook for a couple of mins. Add chopped cauliflower, cover with stock and simmer for 20 mins. Add milk, mustard powder and cheese then blend.

I think I've had that Miso soup in a packet ?.........Japanese ?

It didn't stick in my mind

The business of home made soup for me is about getting fresh vegetables into my diet as i had years and years where hardly a vegetable touched my lips, plus using up bits of things i would normally throw away, like the middle bits and leaves of celery or the cauliflower stump.............so buting tinned or packet soups would defeat the obkect

Since i started making my owned all the tinned ones (except Heinz Tomato !) taste horrible now

Yes, Japanese. I have it for lunch sometimes and find it restorative, like I sometimes have oralyte drinks when I'm feeling a bit off-colour (rather than just when you're supposed to have them! ).

I've always loved vegetables, luckily, but I see where you're coming from. I've managed to make a few soups that have been awful - the last one was spicy parsnip. Yuck!

Lentil dahl is a great one. You can make it soupy.

Looking at all these soup recipes has got me wanting to try them

Can most to these be made with a hand blender or do I need a 21st century doo dar

Hand blenders are fine for any soup, and they only need a quick rinse off to wash them! Anything that saves time works well for me!

Snap! My spicy parsnip soup was revolting! I had tried to recreate a lovely one I'd had at a restaurant but obviously went very wrong somewhere!

I use Miso paste in a Japanese Curry I make (on the BBC Good Food website). Do you use that to make your soup or do you use the sachets?

And I do love lentil dhal (I sometimes make it for a dip for pretzels) but have never made a soupy version (not sure if I'd get the quantities right). Do you have a recipe?

I have used sachets and I've just bought some paste. I'll check out the curry recipe, thanks!

I don't have a recipe for the soup but this is my dhal recipe.
I'd just add more stock or water:


This is a Indian friend's family recipe

Thanks kimindex, another one for me to try!

In the meantime, I made Hungarian Mushroom Soup yesterday. Very nice, although next time I'll add a couple of cloves of garlic as I felt there was something missing.

one can never have too much garlic. roasted is nice in that soup, or a bit of chilli for a kick.

Thanks Welsh lad.Bought all the ingredients yesterday. Yum!!