Foodie Friday On A Saturday - My Mam's Leek And Potato Soup

I think I've mentioned this before but food has always been very important to me and my family, and as a result so many of my childhood memories concern food. From my grandma's amazing, homemade fresh cream cake, and welsh cakes, to eating my other grans meals on wheels sponge puddings and custard and Cheshire cheese food was an important part of my childhood.

My mam and dad also made so many things over the year that have ended up as real family favourites. Delights include flapjack (see my recipe here),  melting moment cookies, sponge puddings, chocolate ladybird cake and homemade leek and potato soup.

Just thinking about this soup makes my mouth water, it's warming, creamy and absolutely delicious, this is my mam's tried and tested over many years recipe. Apologies for the lack of pictures compared to my usual recipes, my lovely mummy kept forgetting to tell me before she moved onto the next stage lol

My Mam's Leek And Potato Soup

2 Medium Leeks (About 300g)

350g Potato

50g Butter Or Margarine 

1/2 Pint Vegetable Stock

1 Pint Milk

Salt And Pepper To Taste

1. Finely chop your leeks, and rinse well. Leeks can contain a bit of grit so make sure you give them a good wash, and then drain well.

Chop your potatoes into a small dice. These were nice, clean baby potatoes, so we just washed them and  left the skin on, but you can peel them if you prefer.

2. Put you butter into a large pan (we use the base of the pressure cooker as per usual in soup making) and melt slowly over a low heat.

Then add your leeks and potatoes to the pan, them give them a stir till there all coated in the butter. Then cut a circle of greaseproof paper to the size of the fan, and lightly butter it. Then put the paper directly on top the leeks and potato, to keep the steam and the moisture in and leave on a low heat for about 15 minutes until the vegetables have softened. Keep having a little peek and a stir, if it looks as though they sticking or burning turn the ring down.

3. When the vegetables have sweated down, add your vegetable stock, and then add the milk, then turn the ring up to a simmer, don't boil it as it will cause the milk to split / curdle.

 It happened a bit here but if it does don't worry about it, it will still taste great, and the blending should even out. Simmer for about about 15 minutes till all the vegetables have softened.

4. Then it's time to blend, you don't have to but for me it's an essential. I did it in a few batches in my blender, take care if you do it this way though because it will be hot you might want to leave it to cool for a while before hand.

5. After you've blended it return it the pan and reheat. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste, this soup benefits from pepper in my opinion.

6. Voila pop into bowls and serve x This recipe made 4 large bowls x It keeps for a day or so in the fridge but because of the potato I would be a little wary about freezing it.

This recipe is amazing it taste soooo creamy and indulgent, but it only comes in at around 240 calories for a large bowlful. Personally I think this recipe is amazing as it is but you could pimp it up even more by adding cream, using chicken stock, or even adding cheese or chicken or bacon. As with all soups though you can alter the recipe pretty easily, adding what you have, and varying the amounts and flavourings. This is a real family favourite in LouLouLand, and we usually have frozen blanched leeks in the freezer all year round so we can make it even when leeks are out of season. Are you a fan of leek and potato soup leave me a comment and let me know x 

Foodie Friday - Vegetarian French Onion Soup

I know what your thinking, surely all soups with vegetables at their heart should be vegetarian, well they aren't. Traditionally French onion soup is made with a dark and rich beef stock which gives it it's depth and flavour, check out any supermarket brand and I can pretty much guarantee that they are all meat based. Grr annoying! especially when I've been craving the stuff for months! So I decided to put my thinking cap on and try to make a veggie onion soup.

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

1 tbsp Olive Oil 

1oz Butter

4 Large Onions 

2 Cloves Garlic 

2 tsp Light Brown Sugar

1 Litre Vegetable Stock

Salt And Pepper To Taste 

1. Pop your olive oil and butter into a large saucepan 

2. Crush or roughly chop your garlic and add it to your pan and cook gently to softened. It's always better to put garlic into a cold pan to stop it burning and going bitter.

3. In the meantime tissues at the ready it's time to chop your onions. I chopped mine into half rings, you don't want to chop it too small. I used 5 smaller onions here which equalled about 600g when it was chopped x

4. Then add your onions to your pan and cook over a medium heat

5. In the meantime make your stock up you want about a litre x I just used vegetarian stock cubes.

6. Keep stirring your onions you don't want them crispy but you want them to be softened and just starting to turn translucent and golden. This can take a while so don't be tempted to turn the heat up

7. Now here's where the recipe gets a little bit strange, once the onions are soft and translucent sprinkle your sugar over the top and mix it in to the onions x

8. Continue to cook the onions until they've caramelised and turned a lovely rich golden brown colour. Unless you have a non stick pan keep stirring because they can catch on and burn really easily, and be patient again this stage can take a little while x

9. Ideally your onions should be a little bit darker than this but once they've reached that sticky, sweet, soft stage you can add your stock.

10. Simmer for about 20 minutes till your onions are completely soft. Then season with salt and pepper to taste.

11. Then serve, with either crusty bread or in the traditional way with some toasted baguette and melted cheese, or as I'm doing some gluten free ciabatta, toasted and covered with melted cheddar just dropped into the hot soup - yummy!

This recipe makes 4 bowls and was fine kept in the fridge for a couple of days and I can imagine it would also be okay to freeze it.

I have to be honest and say that this was nothing like the French onion soup of my childhood. The beef stock was obviously the thing that elevated it to such high heights in my memory. This was nice but it was different, instead of the intense savoury taste this was a lot mellower and unsurprisingly I guess more vegetable like.

If, and when I make this again I'll definitely make a few changes. No I won't be using beef stock but I think instead of using just bog standard vegetable stock cubes, I'll either use a homemade vegetable stock or I'll buy a good quality fresh one or I'll use a better quality of powder or cube than what I used here. - A good stock is so important for this soup as it makes up such a high percentage of the flavour. I also think that this soup would benefit from a few more flavourings, I'm thinking that the addition of a sprinkle of  Provencal herbs such as thyme would make a big difference, so that's definitely something that I will try. This recipe is perfectly nice as it it, but for me it's a bit of a work in progress and I can see this appearing on my dinner menu quite regularly now until I get it right.

Are you a fan of onion soup? and are you like me and do you make a recipe again, and again till you get it right? Let me know in the comments x 

Foodie Friday - Healthy Chilli, Butternut Squash And Sweet Potato Soup

If you follow me on Instagram (click here if you don't x ) you'll know that I lost 4lbs this week. I'm really chuffed that my first week back in weight loss mode has lead to such a positive result and it makes me even more determined to carry on.

The only trouble with trying to lose weight at this time of year is that believe it or not, it's cold outside! It's been freezing this week in the UK and to be honest the last thing you want to eat when it's cold is a healthy and cold! salad, so I've been looking towards other healthy options. As you may have already gathered from this blog I'm a huge soup fan but I'm partial to a bit of cream, cheese, butter and olive oil so they aren't always as healthy as they could be. Everything in moderation though, life shouldn't be about denial but if your trying to be good like me here is a lovely warming and low fat soup recipe.

Healthy Chilli, Butternut Squash And Sweet Potato Soup

1 Litre Vegetable Stock

2 Cloves Garlic 

1 Butternut Squash

400g Sweet Potato

1 Large Onion

2 Fresh / Dried Red Chilli's

Salt And Pepper To Taste

1.Make up 1 litre of vegetable stock - I used 2 Knorr stock pots x Add it to a large pan and then add about another 2 litres of boiling water depending on the size of your pan. Then add a couple of roughly chopped cloves over garlic to the pan

2. Roughly chop your chilli's, mine are dried red Thai chilli's. I like it spicy so I leave the seeds in. You could also use chilli flakes, pickled jalapenos, or chilli paste and use as little or as much as you like.

Add your chilli to your pan.

3.Then peel, de-seed, and roughly chop your butternut squash and add it to the pan. The flesh of mine weighed about 800g just for reference.

4. Then peel and roughly chop your sweet potatoes, I used 4 small ones here x and add them to the pan

5.Then peel and roughly chop an onion and add that to the pan x

6. Then bring the heat up to a simmer and cook for at least 30-45 minutes or so until the vegetables have softened.

7. Then blend till smooth, I'm using my trusty blender here x

8. Then return it to the pan to reheat, and season with salt and pepper to taste x - Just look at that colour  all natural too!

9. Voila, warming, tasty soup that tastes even more indulgent than it is x

This really easy recipe makes at least 4 large bowlfuls, and it keeps well for a couple of days in the fridge. I haven't tried freezing it but I imagine that would be okay too. Each bowlful roughly works out at 200 calories with around 1.9g of fat. It's really, really filling and you don't miss any of the usual fatty ingredients. The sweet potato gives it a really thick and almost creamy texture, and the chilli gives is a lovely kick at the end.

Like most of my recipes the ingredients can be interchanged as to what you have, what you like and how much you want to make. You could also add different types of root veg, or peppers to make it even more substantial. You could also vary the seasoning, I love chilli, but if you don't add less or if you like it super spicy add more, and you could also replace the chilli with nutmeg or cinnamon -spices that work really well with both sweet potatoes and squash. Oh and just a quick time time saver for you - I'm a firm believer in the Thinking Slimmer theory that every movement is exercise so I have no problem in hacking up a butternut squash and peeling a few potatoes, but if you don't have the time or the energy you can buy ready peeled and chopped packets of both butternut squash and sweet potato in most major supermarkets.

I hope you like my recipe and if you have any healthy winter, vegetarians, recipes I'd love to hear them xx 

Cooking With LouLou - Halloween Edition - Redone

When it comes to Halloween I really take it or leave it, I'm not big on dressing up as an adult, and skulls to be honest give the creeps, what I can get on board with though is Halloween food. Have a look on You Tube or on Pinterest and there are loads of spooky themed recipes for both sweet and savoury treats. I'm not sure I fancy spooky severed finger hot dogs though, so today I'm sharing one of my favourite Halloween recipes, and a recipe that I could literally eat every day of my life.

The first recipe is based on a recipe in one of my favourite vegetarian cookery books, Delia's Vegetarian Collection by the queen of TV cookery herself, Delia Smith. if you're a veggie and you haven't read it I thoroughly recommend this book that you track it down, I believe it's out of print now but I regularly use it and it features everything from soups, and stews, to main meals, and cakes and desserts.

For so many people carving a pumpkin is all about the art and for creating the most perfect Instagram approved pumpkin but I carve mine with the aim of extracting as much pumpkin flesh as possible. As pretty as they are Pumpkins are food, they're good for you and they should be eaten, so show it some respect extract the flesh, cook it and eat it - please don't throw it away! There are so many pumpkin recipes online but this one is a real winter warmer and it's so easy to make. 

Delia Smiths Pumpkin Soup With Toasted Sweetcorn

1lb 8oz (ish) Pumpkin or Butternut Squash Peeled, De seeded, de gunked, and roughly chopped
1 Can Sweetcorn (Drained)
2 Corn Cobs Stripped
1oz  Butter
1 tsp Butter
1 Onion Peeled and Roughly Chopped
1 Clove Garlic (optional)
A Sprinkle of Chili Flakes (optional)
275ml Milk
About 1.5 Litres of Vegetable Stock
Salt and Pepper To Taste

1. Add 1oz butter to a large pan (I am using a pressure cooker pan here) add the roughly chopped garlic and the onion - cook for about 5 minutes to soften

2. In the meantime strip one corn cob and open a tin of sweetcorn

3. When the onion is soft add the pumpkin to the pan I usually leave it for about 5 minutes till it starts to soften

4. Add the stripped corn cob and the can of sweetcorn bar 2 tbs to the pan -season and cook for about 10 minutes or so with a lid on till the vegetables start to soften (the pan will look quite full don't panic it will cook down)

5. Meanwhile prepare the stock

6. Add the stock to the pan, give it a quick stir and then pop the lid on for at least 20 minutes (this is pretty flexible I've left it for up to an hour and it's fine) then add the milk x

7. Make sure all the veg is soft then turn the pan off the heat for a little while - your going to blend it and you don't want to be too hot

8. Blend the soup to your preferred consistency - I use a stick blender which is easier for me but you could always carefully pour it into a blender

9. Once it's blended add the remaining 2tbs tinned sweetcorn for a bit of texture and return to a gentle heat

10. In the meantime strip the remaining corn cob and put the corn onto a baking tray sprinkle it with salt and pepper and the remaining teaspoon of butter and put it under a hot grill

11. Keep watching it as it will turn very quickly - you wanted it nice and toasted, but not too burnt - it sometimes pops a bit but it smells amazing like hot buttered popcorn

12. Check the seasoning on your soup - then serve with a spoonful of the toasted corn on the top

Hints and Tips 
* Delia uses all fresh corn but I find it a little tasteless and dry so I only use half and
half - For the toasted corn the fresh stuff works best but again I've used a combination of the two just make sure that you drain the canned stuff really well and pat it dry with a piece of kitchen paper
* Neither does she use the garlic or chilli but I think it gives a nice kick
* You needn't be too precious about quantities - add what you have soup for me isn't an exact science I used about 2/3 of the huge pumpkin that you can see above - if you have any spare pumpkin just throw it in and add some more stock - or blanch it and freeze it so you can make soup anytime you like
* This soup freezes really well (for up to a year in my experience and it will also keep for a few days in the fridge
* Obviously if your veggie like me use veggie stock but it would also work with chicken stock
* You can also use Butternut Squash but Pumpkins are plentiful at the mo and they may even be reduced tomorrow ;) What am I saying of course they won't be reduced - my local supermarket sold out days ago!


So that's what I do with my pumpkins but what about the seeds, well as you probably know you can eat them, but how do you get from the soggy, orange coated goop in the pumpkin to the things you buy in health food shops well this is how I do it - first of all wash the orange goo off, then put them in a bowl with some salted water overnight, next day drain them and dry them the best you can I usually wrap them in a tea towel and squeezy, next put them on a baking tray sprinkle with salt, and pepper, maybe add a bit of garlic salt or some chili flakes and a swig of olive oil and put them in a hot oven till they brown :)


You can take the seeds out of the kernels but there really isn't a need they are perfectly fine the way they are, they are a really nice snack :)

As well as my Pumpkin based treats I also made something I try not to make too often the reason being it's so addictive, you don't always fancy bread with soup, often in my case because some gluten free breads aren't that great but this is gorgeous with soup, with chili or even on it's own, and it's a good alternative to a cheese scone. From another fabulous vegetarian cookery book this time by the late Linda McCartney comes Spicy Mexican Cornbread from Linda's Summer Kitchen, again it appears to be out of print so I'm doing the honourable thing and I'm sharing my version of this fabulous recipe with you x

Spicy Mexican Corn Bread

1 Egg
2 tbs Olive Oil
1 tsp Chilli Flakes
6 oz (175g) Canned Sweetcorn (about a can, drained)
125ml Plain Yogurt
4oz (125g) Yellow Cornmeal (Polenta)
1 tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp Baking Powder
8oz (250g) Cheddar Cheese - grated, cubed or crumbled (reserve a little for your topping)

1. Put the cornmeal, salt, chili flakes, baking powder, cheese and sweetcorn into a large bowl and mix together

2. Crack your egg(s) into a jug, then add the yogurt, and the oil and mix well

3. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well till all the cornmeal is covered, you might need to add a bit more liquid I sometimes add an extra egg

4. Put your mix into a loaf tin I used my trusty silicone here, and sprinkle with a bit of cheese, then pop it into the oven at about 180°C/ Gas 4 for about 40 minutes till the top is browned

5. Serve slightly warm or cold, you can also heat it up for about 30 seconds or so in the microwave

Hints and Tips
* In the original recipe Linda McCartney uses 1/2 oz of fresh green chili and 125ml of Creme Fraiche but it works just as well as chili flakes and plain yogurt
* Cornmeal or Polenta is available in most major supermarkets (try the world foods section) and health food shops - you can can different textures so try them and see what you prefer I must say I prefer the a finely milled one for this recipe
* The original recipe uses cheddar but to be honest I have made this with what ever cheese I have in the fridge - here I've used Cheddar and a bit of Feta, but it works with pretty much anything you have Spicy Mexican Cheddar is particularly nice and so is Mozzarella especially when it's served warm :)
* This recipe is gluten free providing you check the cornmeal and the baking powder x
* Again the quantities can be altered - I've doubled the recipe here but it's pretty flexible
* As well as making it into a loaf you can also make into a tray bake, muffins or buns ;)
* It's best eaten within a couple of days and to be honest I've never tried freezing it because it never lasts that long in my house

So there you go my Halloween eats - they work perfectly together but they work just as well on their own x The Trick or Treaters have been a bit thin on the ground this year so hopefully there are lollies, and mini Mars Bars left x Hee Hee Happy Eating and Happy Halloween xx

Yummy Soup

Well the snow is back up north today and it freezing so I decided to make some nice warming soup for dinner - the recipe I used is for Butternut Squash and Red Pepper soup and I got it from the lovely Kelanjo19's new blog - Not Just Another Diet - please check it out if you haven't already :) I followed her recipe using vegetable stock, and I also added a clove of garlic and some chilli flakes for an extra kick. It was yummy, a real winter warmer and soooo easy to make - a huge thumbs up from me and my mum - Thanks Kelly x

Happy Hallloween

I am not the biggest fan of Halloween but I do like my pumpkins





After carving and hollowing them all out I made a yummy pumpkin and toasted sweetcorn soup - recipe here :) with the addition of a tiny bit of garlic and chilli, and some Quorn bacon and served it with some gluten free sun dried tomato ciabatta - yummy!

I also roasted my pumpkin seeds with garlic and salt for a lovely crunchy snack

So there you go my Halloween eats :) - lets hope we don't get many more trick a treaters I fancy some of the Milky Way funsizes from the Halloween dish - Happy Halloween xx