I’ve found a way to sneak another meal into my day and that meal is soup! I’ve never been so excited by soup before, but stay with me while I explain.
I’ve been trying to think of new snacks I can enjoy late afternoon that are filling but not too heavy, as dinner is just around the corner – and no, I can’t wait till dinner! My Weight Watchers allowance is very precious and every point counts, so I’m keen to ‘spend’ only 2 or so SmartPoints on a snack at this time. With the weather being a little cooler I suddenly felt the urge for something warm and cosy, and then I remembered people make soup – and I could make soup with all the 0 SmartPoints veg I have. So that’s what I did.
Before I continue, you should know that I’m a lazy cook and a huge fan of recipes that are super quick, or can be left in an oven with very little attention required (so that I can do other things) .
I have found a very speedy (lazy) way to make a delicious soup out of any veg – ok, maybe not any veg but the ones I’ve tried have turned out to be pretty tasty. You simply need to cook your chosen veg and blend it untill smooth (or nearly smooth) with a can of tinned tomatoes, then add it to a cooked onion, spices, and vegetable stock. Cooking the veg is the most time consuming part of this recipe and the rest of this method is quick – if it’s easier you could always cook the veg on a separate day or time to when you intend on having or making the soup…
Lazy Veggie Soup
Requires a blender…
Ingredients
- Any veg you have! I’ve made soup with carrots, courgettes and frozen chunks of butternut squash (you can buy packs of these – butternut squash is so hard to cut!)
- Tinned tomatoes
- Salt and pepper
- Herbs (optional and you can use any you like – I’ve made soup with sage, mixed herbs and oregano of separate occasions)
- Spices (also optional – a little curry powder or cayenne pepper gives this soup a nice kick)
- Onion
- Vegetable stock (I use a low salt vegetable stock cube with water)
Method
- Roast, boil or steam your veg – however you like, just cook it and leave it to cool a little before blending.
– If you roast your veg add in a chopped onion at the same time.
– If you cook your veg in another way, you’ll need to fry up some diced onion. - While you’re veg is cooking make say 400-600ml of vegetable stock (this depends on how thick you like your soup and how much you want to make).
- In a blender, mixed together your tinned tomatoes and veg (and roasted onion if you went down that route)
- If you don’t roast an onion, fry a diced onion in a large pan then…
- Add the blended mixture to your large big pan with your vegetable stock, spices, salt and pepper. Bring to boil and then simmer for a few minutes… Or you can mix it altogether and heat in the microwave when you’re ready to enjoy your soup (I did warn you I was lazy).
This makes a decent amount of soup if you wish to share it with everyone in your household or keep some in the fridge or freezer to enjoy on other days – speaking of which – I was recently given a tip that you can use those 1/2 pint milk cartons as soup containers in the freezer too! Just don’t pop it in the microwave – if you pull it out in the morning, it should be defrosted by late afternoon/evening. I really hope this recipe is easy for you to follow and you enjoy making this lazy soup!
As always, apologies to proper cooks out there!