IT'S NEARLY TIME TO MAKE PUMPKIN SOUP AGAIN!
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When I was a kid, in Scotland, we employed a big knobbly turnip/swede/neep/tumshie (how many names can a vegetable possibly have, you ask?) to make our scary halloween lanterns that we carried from door-to-door, rehearsing our little song, dance or poem along the way - you certainly didn’t get away with telling a lame joke back then! And, if you didn’t totally ‘freeze’ under the stare of a few overly-stern neighbours (who didn’t really get into the whole thing and only under peer pressure, opened their doors), there was a chance that you might get some sweets, a tangerine, a few monkey nuts and maybe even a sixpenny bit for your efforts!

DISCLOSURE: A few real ‘Scrooges’ were known to put all the lights out and went to bed around 6 rather than part with a few monkey nuts - yes, Mr and Mrs P at number 9 and Mrs F at number 18 - I mean you!

Anyways… it was a total relief to us Scots that we have generally accepted the American habit of using a pumpkin rather than a turnip as they were notoriously hard to scoop out and even worse to carve any kind of creative design, but we knew no better - all we knew was that Cinderella’s carriage turned into a pumpkin at midnight, not that it was some kind of massive and carvable vegetable!

And best of all, the pumpkin flesh and seeds we laboriously scoop out can be turned into loads of delicious food!

Here are 2 recipes you might want to make with all the pumpkin flesh that is cluttering your kitchen counters! I have to warn you that the squash/pumpkin and sage soup is a thing of complete and utter beauty and one bowl is never enough plus it’s very hard to say no to a generous helping of the pumpkin/squash and sage pasta which is a favourite at any time of the year.

UPDATE: me and the other kids on our road haven’t necessarily forgiven Mr and Mrs P from number 9 and Mrs F from number 18 but after around 15 years or so, we decided to let the whole ‘halloween thing’ go - grown-up or what?

Pumpkin/Squash & Sage Soup (click on the image for the recipe)

Pumpkin/Squash & Sage Soup (click on the image for the recipe)

Pumpkin/Squash & Sage Pasta (click on the image for recipe)

Pumpkin/Squash & Sage Pasta (click on the image for recipe)

IT'S MERELY AN OBSERVATION!

BUT…. not only do glorious homemade soups taste so, so much better than canned, pouched, cartoned or take-away soups (well, that’s MY view anyway), but generally-speaking, there is a deal less sugar, salt and on occasions, saturated fat therein!

In an effort to prove my theory, I pitched my Chicken and Barley Broth against a number of other ‘offerings’ and to be totally fair to all those soups in the frame, I included a few blind-tasters who rather-relish a good soup!

It was slightly stressful I have to confess but eventually my recipe won hands down! Yes, it takes a little longer to make your own soup and there is the shopping for ingredients involved but there is also the fact that there are scant levels of sugar and salt and the only fats involved are fats that aid nerve, bone, heart, brain and muscle health.

The New Covent Garden Chicken & Barley Nutri Soup came in second (deemed by my tasters to be the best when time is not on your side) but perhaps we should have a quick look at the list of ingredients: Water, Tomato (15%), Onion, Butternut Squash, Carrot, Chicken (5%), Haricot Beans (4%), Tomato Paste, Barley (3%), Celery, Garlic, Salt, Chicken Stock, Sage, Lemon Juice, Thyme, Black Pepper, Chicken Stock contains: Chicken, Yeast Extract, Chicken Fat, Salt, Sugar, Dried Onion, Lemon Juice from Concentrate, Black Pepper, Sage Extract, Rosemary Extract

Not too shabby actually but sugar and salt feature here and there a little too often and there is only 5% chicken - the blind-tasters were more than happy with my goodly amount of chicken!

NOTE TO SELF AND OTHERS: get the soup pot out as often as you can and if time is an issue, keep an eagle eye on the ingredients of ready-made soups. And remember, they are generally listed as ‘most to last’ so if sugar and salt are anywhere in the fist half dozen ingredients, walk away!

IT NEVER CEASES TO ASTOUND ME!
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... just how many emails I receive around the beginning of September asking for my advice to shed a few of those 'summer holiday pounds' - how in heaven's name did that happen; we both ask?

The 'added' pounds/kilos appear to have very little respect - they pile on at any time of the year if we don't 'keep a handle' on things! BUT.... there is, of course, soup, glorious soup and in my view, a wonderfully-reliable way to lose weight with lorry-loads of essential nutrients and filling and delicious flavours from one delectable bowl to the next AND I rather think September is a pretty cracking time to get the soup ladle out the drawer! Fancy having a go with my free, downloadable, recently-devised diet? It's not just about soup by the way! Read more...

POTAGE BONNE FEMME

I am unclear exactly when I came across the writings of Elizabeth David and her Book of Mediterranean Food! Must have been around 40 years ago and I simply could not get enough of her recipes using ingredients such as aubergines, basil, figs, garlic, olive oil and saffron, which at the time of her writing were scarcely available in Britain but were beginning to appear (if you knew where to look!)

As an art student who was spending rather more of my allowance on booze, 'pop' concerts and generally enjoying myself, there wasn't much left for food! But, I was a soup fanatic even then and at least once a week I made Elizabeth's Potage Bonne Femme - one of the least expensive soups to make, but also one of the most satisfying ... and ... it usually lasted me 3 days! I didn't have a mouli or a liquidiser but I just used a potato masher - perhaps not as smooth as hers but it did the trick!

A while later, having saved and saved and saved my wages as a very junior graphic artist, I took a job as a seriously-underpaid waitress in a hotel in the Swiss Alps (my father was none-too-pleased but hey, I got to see the incredible sunrise over the mountain every morning as we were serving breakfast at some ungodly hour and I got to ski the same beautiful mountain every afternoon!)

The hotel residents dined on the most fabulous Swiss food (oh the aromas coming out of the kitchen!) but the fare was god-awful for the staff - so the Potage Bonne Femme was again my saviour, cooked on the Swiss equivalent to a Prima stove! Sadly, there were no smart phones to take an image of my soup at the time but the stock photo above is not too far away from the reality!    

NUTS AND SEEDS REDUCE THE RISK OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
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Now, this was a massive study (actually 3 studies) over 30 plus years involving over 5 million people! Nut consumption was assessed and was updated every 4 years.

THE RESULTS? Consumption of peanuts and tree nuts (2 or more times per week) and walnuts (1 or more times per week) was associated with a 13% to 19% lower risk of total cardiovascular disease and a 15% to 23% lower risk of coronary heart disease.

Pretty powerful stuff when it comes to getting into a regular nut habit! Commiseration to those who have a tree nut allergy... but it may be that there is no indication of an allergy to certain seeds so hopefully you can still benefit.

Nuts and seeds are simply crying out for a bit of roasting in the oven, keeping in a dark jars in the fridge (so they lose as little of their freshness and fat goodness as possible) and grabbed as a snack, to top salads or stews AND of course - soups, soups and more soups (hot and chilled)!

GLORIOUS SUPER SOUPS
image: Glorious Soups

I rather like this soup! I have to confess that I don't often buy 'cartoned soup' from the supermarket but there are occasions when it's no bad thing to have a soup or two in the freezer if I am slightly behind on the soup-making front! However, not any old soup will do when in a rush to get some goodness into my day...

In this case, there are peas, beans, onions, leeks and spinach which handle the need for a pretty good selection of splendid vegetables PLUS I like the fact there is a healthy addition of brown rice, buckwheat and quinoa to provide a deal of protein and it's low in saturated fat and not-too-shabby when it comes to the salt content. 

Have you tried it? What's your verdict?

Naturally, it doesn't come anywhere close to my Spinach & Watercress Soup but hey ho - needs must!

SOME LIKE IT CHILLED!
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Some like their soups hot and shy away from the 'chilled variety'. But when the weather is warm and sunny chilled soups come into their own! Many Mediterranean countries have their own delicious recipes - think Ajoblanco, Gazpacho, Solmorejo, Tarator, Vichyssoise, Avgolemono etc.

There is something rather pleasing about a crisp, clean and refreshing soup starter when the temperature soars and/or they can be served in little shot glasses pre-drinks. Have a go with some of my own soups!

Click here to download the recipes