365 Days That Count - Day 206 - What do you do when you've had a hectic day & don't want to talk about it? Make soup & talk about that instead! :)

The soup is more interesting than my day anyway! It wasn't so much bad as it was long and emotionally draining but it still didn't exactly leave me feeling inspired.

Mum and I went to go and see the psychiatrist dad has recently started seeing. He wanted to speak to us as dad's care givers to get further insight into him as well as our influence on his general well being.

I need a little time to process it for myself before I share it with all of you.

Luckily there are other things to talk about! Like the delicious veggie soup and humus I made for dinner!

veggie soup roast.JPG

I had a friend coming over and not much time to prepare so I decided on my go to meal... soup! This time opting for a roast veggie variation.

First thing's first; roast your veg. You can use whatever you like, I cheated and used a Woolies butternut and chickpea mixture to which I then added onion, carrot and broccoli as well as paprika, garlic, chilli and ginger. Give it a splash of oil and some seasoning and chuck in the oven.

Next up, your soup base..

veggie soup base.JPG

As a vegetarian I am conscious of trying to add as much protein to my meals as possible.

Although chickpeas count I decided to bulk it up with some split peas, lentils and barley. I popped those in my saucepan with a little oil, a spoonful of nature's choice veggie stock, paprika, turmeric, cumin seeds, ground coriander, cayenne pepper, harrisa paste, garlic and ginger and turned the heat on till I could smell the cumin seeds popping.

Once your base ingredients have enjoyed the benefit of some heat whilst dry you add liquid to the equation.

veggie soup liquidbase.JPG

My cooking is always very playful and experimental so I never measure properly. This time I just used a kettle full, so approximately 1.8 litres plus a few coriander leaves. Leave this to simmer till your veggies are nicely roasted.

Once cooked add them to your base.

veggie soup.JPG

Add a little more water, again my measurements are rough - probably about half a kettle's worth went in this time - but it all depends on how flavourful you want it, so I keep it to a minimum, you can always add more at the end.

Next I take a potato masher and squash the roast veg in the saucepan to get out as much of their yumminess as possible!

veggie soup mashed.JPG

Turn the heat down and let it simmer for a while till it has slightly reduced. Again, it's up to you, I didn't have long to leave it so it hadn't reduced much but because I hadn't used that much water in ratio to my veg the broth was still very tasty!

The last step is a personal choice. I like to puree my soup so that you get a little taste of everything in one spoonful, but some people prefer a broth with veggie chunks so try it out and decide for yourself.

veggie soup puree.JPG

With the soup done I put it back on the heat and added more seasoning and a spoon full of pesto which was a totally random decision but worked out beautifully!

Next up, a little humus as a snack to start!

Humus has to be one of the easiest things to make and you can play around with all kinds of ingredients to spice it up!

This time I went for; chickpeas (duh), tahini, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, chilli, coriander, cayenne pepper, paprika, olive oil and a little of my chilli sauce which includes soya, balsamic, apple cider vinegar and honey.

I always add a little water too as it gives it a nice creamy texture. Take your mix to the nutri bullet and voila... homemade delicious humus!

It all went down a treat and we actually ended up adding some humus to our soup which was delicious!

Try it out for yourselves and please do let me know how it goes and how you improved on it as I'm sure you will!

We had a lovely evening; snacking, souping, chatting and laughing before curling up to watch the first episode of Games of Thrones. I think I'm the only person on the planet who has yet to get into it much to most people's dismay so as my guest is a super fan I thought he would be the right person to watch it with. It's just so violent though, my eyes were closed most of the time!!! 🙈

I'll give it another chance but I'm still not sure what all the fuss is about! :) Have a happy (gentle) day!

Love,

Daisy xx

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