Easy Carrot, Orange, Coriander and Ginger Soup

* Photo courtesy of  dreamstime.com (As soon as I next make my next batch, I’ll snap a picture and add one of my own).

Another Autumnal day calls for the last of the fail-safe and easy soup recipes we use. This time it’s with carrot, orange, coriander, and ginger. The recipe name may sound as if the cooking will be a large production. It isn’t. Especially if you use cheats, as I often do!

It’s also yet another soup that can be suitable for vegans and those with gluten intolerance. Ensure the stocks used are suitable for you and you’re good to go.

I like to make a large batch of this on the hob, as it’s quick to make. By making much more than needed for one dinner, we can freeze portions and use on lazy days. Batch cooking like this saves not only your energy and time but your energy bills too!

I’d been making this soup for a few years before meeting my (now) husband. Trying to convince him that orange works well in this recipe wasn’t easy. He thought I was ‘mental’ to include it, but he changed his tune after trying the soup for the first time. Now it’s one of his favourites.

My inspiration for the recipe was from Riverford Organic Farmers (the people who I’ve ordered veg boxes from). I tweaked it a little, as you may also want to.

Finally, I can’t let you go without sharing these fun facts (well I enjoyed them, but then I’m a bit of a nerd) taken straight from Wikipedia:

‘The provitamin A beta-carotene from carrots does not actually help people to see in the dark unless they suffer from a deficiency of vitamin A. This myth was propaganda used by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War to explain why their pilots had improved success during night air battles but were actually used to disguise advances in radar technology and the use of red lights on instrument panels. Nevertheless, the consumption of carrots was advocated in Britain at the time as part of a Dig for Victory campaign. A radio programme called The Kitchen Front encouraged people to grow, store and use carrots in various novel ways, including making carrot jam and Woolton pie, named after the Lord Woolton, the Minister for Food. The British public during WWII generally believed that eating carrots would help them see better at night and in 1942 there was a 100,000 ton surplus of carrots from the extra production.’

Enough chatter. You want the recipe…

Easy Carrot, Orange, Coriander and Ginger Soup

(serves four)

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion (chopped)
• 2 cloves of garlic (chopped) *Optional.
• 900g of carrots (chopped)
• 1 tsp of fresh ginger (grated) *We store our root ginger in the freezer and take it out to use when needed. In a pinch, or to save time, you could also use ginger powder.
• 2 tablespoons of oil
• Juice of 2-3 oranges (and zest, if you wish) *To save time, use 150ml of orange juice instead.
• 1 litre of veg stock
• A few coriander leaves (chopped) *You can use chopped parsley leaves if preferred. To make the recipe more frugal and easier, use dried versions of the herbs instead.

To Serve (Optional):

Plain yoghurt or creme fraiche (use dairy-free or gluten-free if necessary).
Salt & pepper to taste.

Method:

1. In a large saucepan, heat the oil and add the chopped onion.
2. Cook on a gentle heat for 10 minutes, or until the onion is soft.
3. Add the garlic (if using) and cook for another minute or two.
4. Add the carrots, ginger (and zest, if using), stir to mix and add the hot stock.
5. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes (or until the carrots are softening).
6. Blend up the soup mixture in a blender or with a hand mixer, until smooth.
7. Return the mixture to the pan, add the orange juice and reheat on a low setting.
8. Add salt and pepper if desired and a blob of yogurt if using.

We like to eat this for dinner with either crusty bread, french baguette or with sandwiches. Nom, nom, nom.

Let me know if you try it, or if you tweak it, and how it turned out!

Here is the inspiration for the Easy Carrot, Orange, Coriander and Ginger Soup. You may also want to have a look at Mr.B’s (the hubster) Vegan-Friendly Frugal Tomato Soup, my Frugal And Healthy Spicy Lentil Soup  and my Chunky Autumnal Vegetable Stew Slow Cooker Recipe.

I love hearing from you and want to grow this community that is growing each day. Don’t be shy! Comment, contribute to the Facebook page, send me a private message or all three! I will always try to help you.

Lisa a.k.a ‘Bunchy’

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Chunky Autumnal Vegetable Stew Slow Cooker Recipe

I’ve been craving a hearty and chunky vegetable stew for a couple of weeks now. Something ‘Autumnal’.

I don’t know about you, but Autumn is my favourite season. Yes, there are some downsides, such as:

• Being cold.
• Having increased heating bills.
• Not being able to dry our washing outdoors as fast as usual.

Yet, we can enjoy:

• Getting wrapped up and going to feed the squirrels in leave-strewn parks.
• Snuggling up under a blanket with a hot mug of tea and a good book or film.
• Filling up on yummy, stodgy, home-cooked food.

* Image courtesy of Dreamstime.com

Feeling grotty today and not wanting some rather sad looking vegetables to go to waste, I pulled out the slow cooker. So much easier than regular cooking and I knew that if I began to feel more ill (I did), at least I’d made dinner!

Here’s the Recipe:

• 2 red onions (finely chopped)
• 2 leeks (finely chopped)
• 4 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
• 4 small carrots (cut into large chunks)
• 4 small sweet potatoes (cut into large chunks)
• 4 small Maris Piper potatoes (cut into large chunks)
• 150g dry red lentils
• 2 litres of hot vegetable stock (made with 3 veg stock cubes and a teaspoon of vegetable bouillon – because I ran out stock cubes).
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon of dried parsley
• Gravy granules to thicken, at the end of the cooking session.
  (Or instead, you could omit the gravy granules and mix some cornflour with water and add).

Method:

1. Peel and chop up the veg.
2. Make up the stock with boiling water.
3. Put all the ingredients into the slow cooker.
4. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 5-6 hours.
5. Thicken if desired.
6. Add dumplings if desired.
7. Enjoy!

This made enough for me to put a few container fulls into the freezer, for nights when neither Mr.B nor I want to cook.

I had this for dinner this evening and it was scrummy!

It’s a cheap, healthy meal and won’t bust the budget. It’s also suitable for vegetarians and vegans (even the dumplings were vegan-friendly!). Many supermarket stocks and gravy granules are also gluten-free. By using them, this stew can also be enjoyed by people with with gluten intolerance.

Let me know if you try this recipe. Though not exactly the same, I based the recipe on one from my Sarah Flowers slow cooker recipe book, which you can find here.

Do you have any good vegetable stew or soup recipes that you’d recommend? Please share, so that we can all enjoy!

For more soup recipes, check out my Frugal and Healthy Spicy Lentil Soup,my Vegan Friendly Frugal Tomato Soup and my Carrot, Orange, Coriander, and Ginger Soup.

I love hearing from you and want to grow this community that is growing each day. Don’t be shy! Comment, contribute to the Facebook page, send me a private message or all three! I will always try to help you.

Lisa a.k.a ‘Bunchy’

Foraging For Our Food (Off-Topic Tuesday)

This post began as part of my new ‘Off-Topic’ series. Yet, as I wrote, the more I discovered that it ties in with money-saving and frugality!

On Sunday we had a lovely afternoon that didn’t cost us a penny.

Our car has been stuck at the local garage for over a fortnight now and won’t be coming home. (More on that disaster another time). Even being the hermit that I am, even I was getting a little cabin fever.

Mr. B and I both have bicycles, so if I’m not particularly fatigued or in pain, I’m able to cycle a reasonable distance.

We decided to ride to the local nature reserve that isn’t far from us. It’s blackberry season (my favourite fruit!) so we packed some containers and off we went.

We rode the distance of the reserve first, to scope out the best picking areas, then rode back, stopping to pick. Though we took some gardening gloves, we didn’t use them. Yes we got some scratches and nettle stings and yes it rained a little, but it was so relaxing! I ate a fair few berries along the way, though not the ones that were low down and liable to have been peed on by dogs!

We spent a couple of hours at the reserve, passing the time of day with friendly people and even friendlier dogs. It was a lovely afternoon and was even nicer due to the fact that we hadn’t had to take our wallets with us.

We bagged a large container of blackberries for zero cost, plus a handful of sloes, of which there were many. There were also rosehips and let’s not forget nettles too if you make nettle soup.

You don’t need a nature reserve nearby to forage your own food, as blackberries are everywhere now. Hurry if you don’t want to miss them! One thing; you might want to avoid berries growing by roads with heavy traffic pollution. Yet, this article shows that this concern may not be as worrisome as you might think.

Do you ever forage for your own food? What dishes do you make from your pickings?

I love hearing from you and want to grow this community that is growing each day. Don’t be shy! Comment, contribute to the Facebook page, send me a private message or all three! I will always try to help you.

Lisa a.k.a ‘Bunchy’

Vegan Friendly Frugal Tomato Soup

Credit must go to Mr.B for this recipe, which he created last week from a wonderful gift of tomatoes grown by my out-laws. 

I’m a pretty good cook but unless it’s something I’ve made many times, then I have to follow a recipe. Mr.B, on the other hand, is a wizard at rustling up delicious meals out of what appears to be nothing in the kitchen (and I’m eternally grateful for this!).

Soup is a usually always a frugal winner and as we were so impressed with how this particular creation turned out, I thought I’d share this cheap and cheerful, yet healthy recipe with others 

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil.
• 1 large onion (roughly chopped). 
• 6 garlic cloves (chopped).
• 1.5kg of tomatoes.
• 2 tablespoons of mixed herbs (or basil, if you prefer).
• 4 tablespoons of tomato puree.
• 2 vegetable stock cubes (dissolved in 1 pint of boiling water).
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Method:

1. Grab a large saucepan, add the oil and heat on a low to medium temperature (the temperature remains the same throughout the recipe).
2. Add the chopped onions and garlic and cook until soft. 
3. Meanwhile, wash the tomatoes and remove their cores.
4. Add the tomatoes, herbs and tomato puree to the saucepan and stir. Put the lid on. 
5. Cook for approximately 15 mins, stirring occasionally until the tomatoes begin to soften and break down.
6. Add the vegetable stock.
7. Put the saucepan lid back and cook for approximately 30 mins, stirring occasionally. 
8. Allow the mixture to cool slightly and blend it until it’s smooth.
9. Return the soup to the heat and simmer until it’s your desired thickness (if too thick, add boiling water). 
10. Add salt and pepper to taste. 
11. Enjoy!

(N.B. If you don’t want the tomato seeds in the soup, then pass the mixture through a sieve before serving). 

Make this recipe even more frugal by growing your own tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs, and by making your own vegetable stock (which can be made from leftover veg and kept in the freezer for whenever you need it for recipes).

You may also want to look at this Frugal And Healthy Spicy Lentil Soup, my Chunky Autumnal Vegetable Stew Slow Cooker Recipe, and my Easy Carrot, Orange, Coriander and Ginger Soup.

I love hearing from you and want to grow this community that is growing each day. Don’t be shy! Comment, contribute to the Facebook page, send me a private message or all three! I will always try to help you.

Vegan-friendly Frugal And Healthy Spicy Lentil Soup

Wait! Don’t be put off by this recipe title!

I know, I know, ‘lentil soup’, even with my strategic inclusion of the word ‘spicy’ (and don’t let that put you off either, as you don’t have to have it spicy) isn’t particularly appealing, but even my meat-loving husband gets excited when I serve this, which tells me all I need to know. This is one of the two soups that I make most often and we eat it as a main meal, either with sandwiches or yummy bakery bread.
It’s so quick and easy to make. Try it and let me know!

Ingredients:

200g dry red lentils
100g carrots (peeled & diced)
120g onion (peeled & diced)
1250ml vegetable stock
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Seasoning: Salt, pepper, cumin powder & chilli powder.
(N.B. I recently ran out of cumin and chilli powder, so used curry powder and some cayenne instead and Mr.B actually preferred it, so I think the key is just to add any spice that adds some heat. If you want that).

Method:

Put the lentils, stock, carrot, and onion into a large, lidded saucepan.
Simmer for 25 minutes until the lentils are disintegrating. Let the mixture cool and liquidise.
Add seasoning and lemon juice to suit your taste and reheat.

This soup freezes really well, so I make a bigger batch of this than the recipe above. It can be reheated on days when we can’t be bothered to cook. Which, let’s be honest, are most days.

You may also be interested in Mr.B’s Vegan-Friendly Frugal Tomato Soup, my Chunky Autumnal Vegetable Stew Slow Cooker Recipe, and my Easy Carrot, Orange, Coriander and Ginger Soup 

I love hearing from you and want to grow this community that is growing each day. Don’t be shy! Comment, contribute to the Facebook page, send me a private message or all three! I will always try to help you.