Easy green smoky soup with roast veggies... low carb and keto.

Now to focus on a few savoury successes along my ketogenic journey .

As part of my experiment I knew I needed to find quick simple dishes that I could make in a batch and freeze. This soup is a great freezer option as I could eat with or without toppings and also vary the toppings depending on what I had to hand or what I fancied, giving extra variety.

If you chop your roast veg into smallish pieces and use quick cook varieties such as cauliflower, broccoli and courgette you have a meal ready to go in 15 minutes... most often the time it took me to get in from the gym, prep and put the veg in the oven and have a shower whilst it cooked!

The flavours are what make this soup, again you can very your seasons with the toppings, or toss seeds and nuts in top instead of veg. Experiment to find your on preference- powerful smoky flavours work well, be sure to include enough salt. I've been adding a little extra himalayan sea salt to myself dishes compared to pre-keto to ensure I get the minerals.

I also added a sprinkle chilli roasted pumpkin seeds for some extra kick and crunch!

In case you're thinking 'there isn't much protein in this dish', I tend to get the bulk of my protein needs in my snacks- nuts and hemp protein. That said, green veggies are a good secondary protein source and you could always increase the seeds on top or add a little silken tofu to the blend.

Recipe: Green veggie soup with roasted topping

Serves 2 (double up and freeze some!)

Ingredients:

• 1 large leek- chopped
• 4 cups cauliflower – chopped (3 blended, 1 roasted for top)
• 4 cups broccoli – chopped (3 blended, 1 roasted for top)
• 3 ½ cups water
• 2 cups kale
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tsp smoked garlic powder*
• 2 bay leaves
• handful parsely
• sprig of thyme
• 1 tsp turmeric
• extra roasted veg on top*

*Note: I used the chopped cauliflower and broccoli plus 2 cups of chopped aubergine. I mixed these with 1 tbs melted coconut oil, ¼ tsp salt and extra fresh mixed herbs

Method:

Prepare the veg for roasting if applicable. Roast for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil or steam the chopped cauliflower and broccoli for approx 10 minutes or until just tender. Add the kale, water and remaining ingredients and simmer for a further 5-10 minutes until the kale is cooked. 

Remove the bay leaves and blend the soup until smooth.

Serve into bowls and top with the roasted veg.

* If you can’t find smoked garlic, another smoked herb/spice could work well. It just helps add depth of flavour.

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Easiest ever pumpkin coconut soup and Halloween noodles!

Well it's been a crazy week and kitchen experimenting time has been in short supply. However at the weekend I did find some time to get in on the Halloween action for a couple of crazy simple savoury dishes.... no sweet halloween treats from me this year, my sweet tooth has been a bit overloaded with so much Wholeplus taste testing for my Christmas range being packed and delivered as we speak (more on that at the bottom of this post!!)

Today you have two recipes to play with, both done in under ten minutes and with a crazy short ingredient list to match...

Sound good to you? Thought so.

This pumpkin soup may well become a new winter favourite for me, smooth and creamy with subtle spiced undertones. I reckon it would work just as well using squash and sweet potato if you don't have a regular pumpkin to hand. The toasted coconut curls on top give a great chewiness, but of course you could add pumpkin seeds for some crunch factor instead.

For the noodles, I used vegan pesto I recently bought at a food fair, but it is also easy to make your own as I did here. You could add other spiralised veggies too, but I felt that courgette on its own was the most 'swampy' looking! I added black olives stuffed with cashew butter for eye balls, but that's optional really. If you don't have a spiraliser you could use a julienne peeler but it won't have quite the same effect since you'll just have straight noodles.

Recipe: Pumpkin coconut soup

serves 1-2

Ingredients:

• 2 cup grated/processed pumpkin
• 1 onion- finely sliced/processed
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 2 tsp garam masala (or spices of choice)
• a pinch of salt
• 1 cup boiling vegetable stock
• coconut curls for the top

Method:

Process the onion and pumpkin until you have very small pieces (to make for the quickest cook time).

Add to a medium sauce pan with the remaining ingredients (other than coconut curls) and bring to the boil then simmer for approx. 5-7 minutes until cooked.

Meanwhile toast the coconut curls in a dry pan for best flavour (or leave untoasted if preferred).

Using a hand blender (I cooked the whole thing in my Thermomix) blend the soup until totally smooth and creamy.  Serve immediately and sprinkle the toasted coconut on top.

Recipe: Halloween swamp noodles

serves 1-2

Ingredients:

• 2 courgettes
• 1/4 cup vegan pesto
• handful pitted olives
• approx 2 tbs cashew butter

Method:

Spiralise the courgettes and stir through with the pesto. Serve into a smallish bowl so that some of the noodles hand over the sides for special effect :-)

Stuff the olives with cashew butter to make eyeballs and add to the top of the noodle bowl. 

I served my bowl raw but you could cook the courgette noodles first and stir the pesto through to serve as a hot dish.

For more Halloween and holiday fun, checkout my 'holiday food and crafts' Pinterest board for more ideas to get creative with.

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Wholeplus news....

if you are a subscriber to vegan/healthy eating food boxes you might see my goodies popping up over the next couple of months... just saying'. Also The Vegan Kind (which might be one such box...) have now extended their delivery to WORLDWIDE... how crazy awesome is that! So wherever you are in the world you can get hold of surprise vegan treats and lifestyle products each month!

Oh and lastly, if you are in the UK, I have recently launched my special Wholeplus Christmas range of treats... check them out here!  Gingerbread, Choc-orange and Stollen flavours... all sugar free and gluten free.

Let's get festive!! It's almost November so I can start singing Christmas songs, right? ;-)

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Creamy tofu tomato soup

The sun is out! 

It's still chilly BUT the sun is out here and with it are brightening spirits... and a sense of needing to spring clean the house!  Anyone else with me there?

Regardless of the sun, it is still not quite the season for summery salads and I still have lots of soups going down in the kitchen.

This little super quick dish is a nice way to get some high protein in your diet without needing to add beans and lentils as I would usually. It's super light and creamy and makes for a nice change, perfect for the changing seasons! I don't really use tofu that much, sometimes it ends up in baked good like this turtle cheesecake (yum!) and simple baked tofu which I love and don't make nearly enough. Tofu is often seen as a controversial ingredient in terms of it processed nature and source of intolerance on sensitivity fir some, but I think it's a very useful source of protein every now and again. I have beans a plenty the rest of the time! :-)

I topped this soup with my carrot pickle which was delicious, but you could top it with roasted chickpeas, sauerkraut or whatever takes your fancy really. Or top it with nothing at all.  

What's favourite dish to whip up as the seasons change?

Recipe: Creamy tomato tofu soup

Serves 2

Ingredients

• ½ pack silken tofu - drained
• 1 tbs cashew or almond butter (optional for extra creaminess)
• 4 large tomatoes
• 1tsp Indian spices (I used a mix or garam masala and cumin) you could also use a ready made paste.
• 2 garlic cloves- crushed
• ½ cup boiling water
• 1 small onion- sliced finely
• 1 cup of veg of choice- good options are peas or sliced courgette.
• large handful of spinach or massaged kale- optional
• Topping of choice

Method

Cook the onion and courgette if using for about 4 mins in a medium sauce pan with a dash of oil or just sauté in a little water. Meanwhile, blend the tofu, cashew butter (if using) and tomatoes together with the spices and garlic until smooth.

Add the tofu blend and all other ingredients (inc kale/peas if using) to the sauce pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 mins until heated through and veggies cooked.

Serve immediately with a dollop of topping as desired.

I'd love you to join me in other places too!  

Why not sign up for my newsletter in my sidebar where I feature roundups and special offers  plus me FREE ebook. If you are new round here check out my 'About' and 'Getting Started' tabs up top. To buy nibbles you can also find me over at Wholeplus.  Day to day you can always find me in these places:

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Speedy tahini pea and mushroom soup

It seems that every recipe i post at the moment has the '1-minute' or '5-minute' status!

it seems an indication of the direction my life is going...high speed...non stop. I still haven't mastered the art of slooowing down.

I'm still very much enjoying the creativity of recipe development, it's simply that I haven't got the luxury of time to spend longer than about 10 minutes in the actual cooking process. Most ideas swim around my head for a while, collected and pinned amongst various notes on Evernote and only then do they make it into the kitchen- it's the kitchen part where I struggle for time.

My days are pretty hectic at the moment, studying two courses, producing packs of Wholeplus products amongst the work I do with other companies too. 

So, this soup has been a lifesaver, it's flexible- so throw in any small fridge/freezer veg and it tastes so simple and good I've got quite addicted! If you follow my Instagram you'll note I posted varitions on the theme quite a few times... I just didn't get round to photographing it in the daylight!

Well finally I have captured it on camera! Like I say the ingredients are fairly flexible- as long as they are chopped small however I would encourage you to use either frozen endamame beans or peas and mushrooms as the base (ideally chestnut mushrooms for a slightly nuttier flavour). Being someone you has never liked cooked mushrooms this is a big milestone for me and I think the key is the fact that they are only minimally cooked so don't have the slimy texture that I've never liked! Also, if you use noodles- make sure they are the type that cook within approx 5 mins to match the timings I have listed. 

Go and get to it!

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cup veg broth

• 2 tsp tahini

• splash of soy sauce to taste 

----

• 1 cup frozen peas or endgame

• approx. 2cm circumference brown rice noodles or soba noodles (5 min cook time max.)

• 1 small leek- finely sliced in circles

• 1 cup sliced mushrooms

• 1 cup packed spinach

• Note: other finely cut ingredients optional- i.e. sliced cabbage, sliced peppers...

Method

Whisk wet ingredients together add peas and noodles and bring to the boil. Slice the leek add that, slice the mushrooms and add those for the final 2 minutes cook time. Add spinach (if using) in the final minute.

If using other ingredients (my photos shw red cabbage add those as along with the frozen peas beans).

Serve immediately. 

Pulsin' Mexican corn soup

The autumn weather is closing in… Chilly mornings and early sunsets. 

The upside is that soups and stews are now on the cards again. Yay!

The downside is that I'm now having to use my lamp to photograph my dinners again, it's easy to take for granted the summer sunlight during long summer days when the light stays bright till well past eight and photo shoots of dinners are quick and simple. Not so much when winter draws in- more organisation and better technique is required… well at least to me as I'm still very much a novice when it comes to artificial light photography. Maybe this will be the season I actually put some extra effort into learning the skills!

I actually thought I was going to be lucky and catch the daylight on this one, but there is always that fine balance between daylight, dusk in dark that only last about 10 minutes and yes on this occasion I ended up being just that 10 minutes too late. 

The photos aren't that bad in actual fact, the shadows are bit too harsh but the dish itself still looks the part and it certainly tastes the part. This was an amazing combination of mixed beans, roasted peppers and fresh corn on the cob. You can use any beans you wish. I had planned to use with kidney beans but realised I had none so subbed these for black beans at the last minute. Anything goes!

I also made this soup in aid of SouperSeptember, I saw a link on twitter in which donations, recipes and soup kitchens were being sent in and set up in aid of Broadway Homelessness and Support.

So this is my little offering.

Recipe: Pulsin' mexican corn soup

Ingredients: 

• 1 large onion- sliced
• 1 heaped tsp cumin seeds and ½ tsp chilli powder (or a sliced chili)
• 2/3 cup red lentils
• 3 ½ cups vegetable stock
• 1 can tomatoes (400g)
• Handful of fresh oregano
• 1 can black beans (400g)
• 1 can red kidney beans (400g)
• 2 peppers- cut into chunky strips
• 4 corn on the cob (or add loose corn to the soup itself)

Method: 

Sauté the onion with the spices in a dash of oil in a large pan for 4-5 minutes until softening. Add the lentils, tomatoes  and veg stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes, add one can of the beans and simmer for a further 5 minutes.  Add the oregano, remove the pan from the heat and blend until fairly smooth.

Meanwhile lightly coat the strips of pepper in oil and bake or grill until soft and slightly charred, sprinkle with spices (I used a little sumac) if desired.  Boil the corn cobs (if using.)

Once the soup is blended add the remaining can of beans* and simmer to warm through. Add the loose corn here also if using.

Serve and add the corn to the side. Add extra oregano leaves if desired.

*blend one can of beans and leave one can whole- depending on which beans you want to be ‘visible’ and preferred colour of soup base.

Peas & beans noodle soup- 5 minutes!

There is nothing I love more than 5-minute meal!

... Actually I change my mind, there's nothing a love more than a 5-minute dessert but let's not get distracted... here we're talking five minute meals of the savoury variety! (Note: sometimes I do have a dessert as a meal)

I love a good dip with raw veggies, and I'm often to be found whipping up a batch at a moments notice. Now I've discovered that with just an extra couple of minutes work you have yourself a bowl of thick hot luxurious soup! The day after taking these photos I made the soup again (more dip leftovers) and added turmeric (to heal my sore gym muscles), and spinach. Its a 'throw in whatever you fancy' deal.

Yay for five minutes!

Yay for plant protein power!

Yay for warming soups and noodles!

Just so you know the soup came about as I made ridiculously large batch of the dip (for a gathering I'd overestimated) and figured I wouldn't get through fast enough just as a dip, so why not make a double batch and have it both ways. 

For extra inspiration see the posts below for ways I've used the dip.

Stuffed pancake stack

Christmas tree flatbreads

Recipe: peas and beans soup

Makes 1 bowl of dip and 2-3 servings of soup (depending on thickness and mix-ins)

Ingredients

• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 ½ cups frozen peas (thawed)
• 1 cup cooked/canned white beans
• A few green jalapeno peppers (optional)
• 2 tbs fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ red onion finely chopped
• 2 tbs coriander or mint (i added fresh mint this time at the end)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Extras to make into soup: 

• 1 cup boiling water 
• approx. 1/2 cup or more quick cook GF noodles (I used buckwheat)
• 1 tsp ground turmeric (optional) 
• 1 cup spinach (optional) 

Method

Pour the boiling water in a smallish pan and add the noodles and turmeric, simmer for the required time till cooked (mine took 3 minutes)

Meanwhile, blend all the dip ingredients in food processor until fairly smooth.  Add to the water and cooked noodles and mix to heat through- add a little more boiling water to reach desired thickness. Mix through the spinach for a minute until wilted and garnish with fresh mint, salt and pepper to serve.

Green smoothie soup

I'm getting the feeling that the hottest summer days are over.

I'm also getting the feeling that my blog feels a little neglected! Ok, so only since Monday- still that's not like me! I'm still having a few issues I'm trying to get sorted with is frustrating me, and I feel like I can't push things the way I want to... that's probably just a mental excuse... better stop that one in it's tracks!!

Back to the weather, the 'go to' topic of British conversation.  Where is the sunshine I ask, you know the really hot stuff?  To be fair, we've had a few nice days so I can't complain and isn't it always the case when its mega hot that we just want it to be a little cooler.

This soup was made on one such mega hot day. On a day when I was lacking in energy (and fresh ingredients) to make a dazzling raw salad. On a day when a green smoothie in a glass just wasn't doing it for me...sometimes I just prefer not to 'drink' my food!

So, the solution... put a  thick green smoothie in a bowl decorate it a bit and eat with a spoon. Fool the mind!

The green smoothie is a twist on this one. Long time readers and those who follow me on Instagram will know that I freeze portions of green smoothie 'concentrate' and then defrost in water when I want a serving (which is nearly every weekday morning) . Here I used two frozen serving portions and added a little less water than usual for a thicker soup consistency.

Souper speedy lunch (ha ha) :-)

Recipe: Green smoothie soup 

Serves 1

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup water (or part fruit juice for extra sweetness)
• 1 cup packed spinach (or other greens)
• 1/3 cup cucumber
• ½ cm fresh ginger
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 3-5 fresh mint leaves
• 1/4 avocado
• 1/3 small apple- cored and quartered

Topping:

• handful of buckwheat groats
• handful of pumpkin seeds
• 1 tbs melted coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• pinch of cinnamon

Method

Blend everything together until as smooth as possible. Pour into a bowl and serve either chilled or at room temperate topped with sprinkles of choice.

To make the sprinkles I coated some pumpkin seeds and buckwheat groats in a little coconut oil and dusted them in vanilla and cinnamon. I baked the mixture for approx 30 mins on a low temp (approx. 140C)  for a super crunchy topping.

Carrot and lentil soup

I am going through a bit of a lentil phase at the moment, and have been creating all things lentilly. Lentils are a classic soup base and here I have opted for two different types.

Orange and yellow was the generally look I was going for.... enter the carrots! When I first made this soup in a 4-portion batch as I usually do, I served it without the corn- hence the photos are ‘corn-less’, but the next day as I filled a flask of soup for a lunch, the leftover tub of sweet corn in the fridge caught my eye and on a whim I added it to the mix. It was even better this way, the juicy sweet kernels of corn really add to both the texture and flavour of the soup. So whilst I have added it as an optional ingredient in the recipe, I would encourage you to do so!

You can find more soup recipes to warm you up  here!

For those who saw and commented on this picture on my Instagram and Facebook a few days ago... I will try and recreate the recipe for you and post it very soon!

Recipe: Carrot lentil soup

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

• 1 large onion
• 1 tbs coconut oil or red palm oil (I used red palm oil to keep an extra orangey colouring)
• 2 crushed garlic cloves
• 1 tsp dried cumin seeds
• ½ tsp dried coriander (or fresh if preferred)
• 3 grated carrots
• 1 cup dried red lentils
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• ½ cup green lentils
• 3 ½ cups veg stock (more if needed)
• 1 cup sweetcorn- optional

Method

Saute the onion and garlic in the oil for 5 minutes until softened.

Add the spices and grated carrot and sauté for 2-3 more minutes.

Add all remaining ingredients and bring to the bill before simmering for approx 20 mins until the lentil are cooked.