Hells bells how am I supposed to work when it’s this cold?
I’ll just tap the keyboard one frigid claw at a time shall I?
Clack, clack, clack.
Tell you what, best use for a laptop right now is up my jumper.
Why did I ever let you talk me into buying this bloody house. But it’s Victorian you said. It’s got character you said. Well I tell you what, Queen Victoria would be very happy here. She liked it icy.
Right now I’d settle for a decent energy rating and some double glazing.
You know what we need? Soup.
And another bloody log on the fire.
Ingredients for two fiery mugfuls:
4 big carrots
1 medium onion
1 medium orange
1 red chilli
2 inch piece of fresh turmeric or 1tsp of dried
2cm knob of ginger
2 cloves of garlic
3 cups of veggie stock
Salt and pepper
A slug of olive oil, coconut oil or butter
How to make it:
Put a saucepan on a medium heat and drizzle in your oil of choice. Peel and roughly chop your onion and throw it in with a pinch of salt (this stops the onion browning – we don’t want a speckledy soup) and put the lid on.
If you’re using organic carrots, you can get away with not peeling them. If not, peel and chop your carrots. Peel your turmeric (I find a veggie peeler can deal with this) and your ginger (use a paring knife), and roughly chop them. Squash and peel your garlic cloves and open out and de-seed your chilli (unless you’re ever so brave) and run a knife through these too. Leaving your spices in larger chunks rather than mincing them stops them burning.
Are your onions soft now? Great. Throw in all the rest of the veg and spices, and poke it about a bit. Use a fine grater to zest your orange straight into the pan, then put the lid back on and let everything sweat for five minutes while you clear up.
When that’s done, send your stock into the pan. Put the lid back on and let everything simmer for about 15 minutes or until the carrots are soft. Then, using a hand blender (ideal), a counter top blender or a food processor, blend your soup until super smooth, adding a bit more stock until you have the consistency you want.
Cut your orange in half and squeeze that in – half at a time so you don’t go overboard. Have a taste and adjust the seasoning/orange juice situation.
Pour into big mugs, top with a drizzle of olive oil, a scattering of herbs or seeds, wrap your chilly mitts right around it and drink down to kindle a nice little fire in your belly.
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Lizzy has just launched her health coaching programme, the Last Time Ever Diet. Find out more here.