While salads are the mainstay of my diet in summer, in the deepest, darkest days of winter the last thing you want to eat is cold food. Your body has to get it up to body temperature to start with – before it can begin digestion. That takes up a lot of energy and effort.

So, we have soup just about every day for lunch at home and I promised a client I would share some recipe ideas. These are not soups for entertaining … these are for everyday lunches or light dinners. It’s more about getting in some good nutrients rather than impressing. So, the absolute best base to start with is bone broth – stock made from the carcass of a chicken or meat bones which have been simmered on very low heat for a long time. See my post on chicken soup here.

Other than that, here are my top tips for healthy, nutritious soups:

1. If you don’t have time to make stock, then this vegetable bouillon powder is the best start: Marigold Organic Bouillon. (I like the Organic version best as it doesn’t contain as much added salt or any hydrolysed vegetable protein.) A heaped dessertspoon of this powder and a litre or two of cold water from the filter is the start of most of my soups.
2. Chop vegetables small so they cook quickly. Use a wide variety of veg.
3. Add onion, garlic, chili, ginger, fresh herbs, dried herbs, etc
4. Try half a cup of red split lentils for extra protein and body
5. No need to fry anything … just add raw veg to the stock.
6. Cook only until the veg is just soft and then blitz with a hand blender.

Some recipe ideas:

1. Carrot, parsnip, red split lentil, ginger, garlic, chili.
2. Leek, potato, kale, garlic (blend most but leave some chunks)
3. Meat stock, finely chopped carrots, beetroot, cauliflower, cabbage, onion, garlic, dried rosemary (don’t blend)
4. Butternut squash, tin of coconut milk, ginger, turmeric root, red split lentils, garlic.
5. Rice noodles, finely sliced carrots, peas, broccoli, onion, garlic, chili, ginger & raw king prawns, coconut cream