Soup in Summer

I'm that weird breed that constantly craves what I can't have. It's summer? I miss autumn. Tell me I'm gluten-intolerant? I want to mainline bread and beer. I can only buy brick-red lipstick? But I want oxblood. I can't help it, I'm bloody difficult. I also want things that are deeply inappropriate for this time of year. Boots, hats, but mainly soup. And none of that cold gazpacho. Hot, hearty soup.

Yes, yes I know it's due to be a scorcher of a week. The sun is bright, sky is blue, and the thermometer is edging towards 30. The normal among us will be sipping a cool drink and contemplating a salad (or a tub of ice-cream) for lunch in their quest to stay cool. Me? I want soup. The stomach wants what the stomach wants. Plus the sight of another lettuce leaf may just tip me over the edge.

I've been making a conscious effort to be healthy of late (ignore recent Instagram pictures, we're all allowed a cheat day), so I wanted to put something together that would be filling and satisfying, but packed full of nutrients, not calories. I also wanted to make something that would be accessible to as many as possible, so stuck with the vegetable variety, and what wouldn't cost a fortune to make. I took inspiration from the website Yummly - http://www.yummly.co.uk/. If you haven't got an account already, I'd suggest signing up. Free to use with hundreds of suggestions, you can't beat it. It's particularly good for those of us who are restricted in what we can eat. 

I found a recipe that utilised a slow cooker, so lessened the effort involved as you just bung everything in! It's a bulk recipe so make sure you have plenty of tubs to hand, or a large group to feed. But with it's lack of meat it should last for a few days, and the ingredients are robust so should freeze well too.

You need:

• 1 litre vegetable stock (I use Knorr, as all of their standard stock cubes are gluten-free)
• A sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 1 onion, diced (alternatively, a handful of shallots would be a lovely addition)
• 2 tins of haricot beans
• A tin of chopped tomatoes
• Celery
• 4 carrots
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 red chilli, de-seeded and chopped (if you don't like spice just omit this. You can also replace with chilli flakes)
• A pinch of allspice
• 1 1/2 tsps paprika
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Prep all your vegetables and place in your slow cooker, along with the garlic, beans and tomatoes. Sprinkle over your seasoning and add the stock. Set the slow cooker to low for 7 hours. If in more of a hurry, set to high for approx. 4 hours.

The beauty of this is that you can throw anything in that you like. Have a play and see what you think!