Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup.

I love soup, especially when it's cold, it's a great way to use up those odds and ends that are kicking about taking up space. Soup is so quick and easy and a great way of packing lots of different veg into one dish.


You'll need:
1 Butternut Squash
1 Sweet Potato
2 Med Carrots
3 Sticks Celery
1 Onion
1 Garlic Clove
2 Veg Stock Cubes
Ground Coriander, Black Pepper & Nutmeg to taste.
Serves 4. 40p per serving


Method:
Preheat the oven to 190C, cut the squash in half lengthways and scoop out the seeds, place skin side up on a baking tray and roast till the skin begins to shine and the flesh is soft. This makes the skin just peel off and roasting it adds flavour.

Finely chop the garlic, onion and celery and fry off gently in a large pan. Meanwhile peel the skin from the squash and chop into large chunks, peel and chop the sweet potato and carrots and add to the pan, cook for 5 minutes then add the squash.

Crumble the stock cubes onto the veg and pour over enough water to nearly cover, put on the lid and leave to simmer until everything is nice and soft.

Once everything is soft, turn off the heat and leave to cool slightly before blending, once blended stir in the spices to taste.

Serve with some crusty bread.

My Kid Won't Eat Vegetables!

Arrrgh, do you know the frustration when you've lovingly prepared a tasty and nutritious meal only for your toddler to turn up their nose and catapult it from their highchair?
Yep I do!
Baby Badger has always been great at eating anything you put in front of him, but ever since around 18 months vegetables are met with a fight, now there is some theory knocking about that when a babe reaches around 18 months their taste buds change causing them to taste the bitterness that we as adults don't taste, but that doesn't explain why Baby Badger will eat them if they're hidden. I will openly hold my hands up and say that the other night he had cheerios and fruit for dinner after he refused 3 different things because they had a smattering of green in them, so today I've been a sneaky sneaky badger and made a "Tomato" sauce, packed full of hidden veggies and vitamins. It went down a treat and he ate all his dinner without fuss, I do still offer veg at meal times as I'd like him to at least have the chance to eat them whole, but this is a great way to sneak some extra goodness into his diet.

This recipe makes A LOT, about 6-8 toddler portions but freezes really well.

Sneaky "Tomato" Sauce

I used;
tsp olive oil
1/2 a leek
2 ripe tomatoes
1 red onion
1/2 a red pepper
1/2 a small aubergine
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
1/2 a tube of tomato purée
dried herbs and garlic to taste,
1 tbsp of sugar.

In hindsight the aubergine did make it quite bitter so next time I would omit the aubergine and go for something sweet like carrot using less sugar. Although I don't really like to use a lot of sugar when you realise how much this makes, divided into portions there isn't actually that much.


Step one
Chop up all the veg and fry them gently until soft.

 Step two
Add the tinned tomatoes, purée, garlic and herbs and simmer for 10 minutes.

Step Three
Whizz it until smooth and add sugar a bit at a time to taste.

Voila!!!

Serve with pasta and cheese for a quick and easy lunch, add it to mince, lentils, for a spaghetti bolognese or throw in some kidney beans and chilli to make a tasty con carne!