Soup Days

I have mentioned before that I am not crazy about winter - I am a summer person, but the one thing that I do like about winter is to make some nice veggie soup.

Well, today is a cold winter's day and so I decided to make some.

One does not have to have loads of things to make a hearty vegetable soup - in fact, today I picked some veggies from my containers, added a few other items and in next to no time the soup was ready to simmer away while I do this post.

This evening, I have students coming for their art class so when all that is done and dusted, I shall be able to sit down to some delicious home made soup.
I know that there are many people that do not like soups or stews and I find that quite weird as to my mind, they are real comfort foods.

Anyway, I am going to share with you all my recipe for today's soup and maybe you might want to give it a try.

First chop up some onion, celery and carrots and garlic and a few rashers of bacon and gently saute this in olive oil.
Then add some chopped spinach or kale (or both), one chilli, and some sweet potato and a few cherry tomatoes.
I then add some chopped basil and any other herbs that I fancy.
The next ingredient is a handful of pre soaked small white dried beans - this is optional and can be left out if you do not like beans.
Lastly add some good chicken stock and enough water to cover everything and season well.

Gently simmer this until everything is cooked - then remove from the heat and use a potato masher to break everything down so that the soup becomes thicker.

Done and ready to eat with some nice crusty bread and butter.
Delicious!