A hearty soup - 14th December 2011

Every teacher will know that dragging feeling at the end of the Autumn term. It's dark, it's cold and September seems like a life time away. At college, I'm getting students coming in to see me a stack of assignments they need to get finished, Access students are stressing about the personal statements for the UCAS forms and they are all ready sharing their germs around. Today I felt rubbish, my head hurt, my throat was sore, my ears ached and I really would have much preferred to have been in watching Christmas movies, crocheting Christmas gifts.

However it was not all bad, as I do finish at 1pm on Wednesdays and waiting at home was a hearty soup, about 1 hour of a Christmas movie and a comfy blanket. The perfect pick me up before the school run.

Recipe for Allotment Soup

Chopped onion or leek or both
Chopped celery
Grated carrot
1/2 packet of broth mix (either pre-soak or ready to cook- both are delicious)
Mushrooms, roughly chopped
Kale (freshly picked from my allotment)
Rainbow Chard
Chopped tomatoes
Stock cube
Any chopped herbs still growing in the garden

Chop up all of the vegetables whilst the broth mix cooks according to the instructions on the packet. Gently soften all the veg apart from the leafy veg in olive oil, then add some water, a stock cube and the cooked broth mix. Leave the soup simmering away for a while to allow the flavours to infuse. Finally add the leafy veg and herbs. If you leave the soup over night, it tastes even better. You can add pretty much any vegetable.

And if you are feeling really sorry for yourself, there really is no harm in a sprinkling of cheese.

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