Recipe of the Week/Month

As the days are getting shorter and chillier and the need to watch my waistline has gotten stronger I have started craving healthy, nutritious, warm, toasty soups. So my latest recipe is my mum's ever famous pumpkin soup. I love this soup, it is one of my favourite winter comfort meals and is pretty easy to make. My only advice: if you can have a male peel and cut the pumpkin for you unless you're a pretty strong chic that is. Pumpkin peeling and cutting can be pretty hard.

Mum's Pumpkin Soup

1/2 pumpkin (I used a Kent), peeled and chopped 

2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 large carrot or 2 small carrots, peeled and chopped

1 tsp curry powder

100g diced bacon

Salt and pepper to taste

500ml chicken stock

200ml of carnation milk

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup parsley, chopped

1. Combine pumpkin, potatoes, bacon, onion, garlic, carrots, salt, pepper, parsley and curry powder in soup pot. Almost cover ingredients with cold water. Bring to the boil and reduce heat, simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Add 500ml of chicken stock, stirring so it doesn't stick and bring to the boil.
3. Add carnation milk and reduce heat to low stirring until soup begins to bubble. If you would like your soup to be smooth, blend with a stick mixer at this point. 
4. Turn off heat and stir through cream and further salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with cream, parsley and croutons.

Notes: if you would like a smooth soup but don't have a stick mixer, strain the liquid from the soup into a bowl after step one. Then blend the cooked vegetables in a food processor in batches and add liquid and vegetables back into the pot continuing with the recipe. Enjoy.