The Weekend Before Work Resumes...

It has arrived. The last weekend of the Christmas holiday. Christmas came and went (with a power cut that lasted 6 days!), New Year came and we're now over half a week into the new year. Not that I'm willing it by, of course! I'd happily have another few weeks off work :)

The mother & I have gone a bit soup mad of late, because of the sheer ease of them! And in case you need any more reasons, you can put lots of yummy (& hide lots of not so yummy) veg in them, they freeze, and of course they taste nice too. 

Here's what mum made today (I helped too!). It's very basic, you could jazz it up with onions, garlic, anything really. 

Tomato-y Tomato Soup

That's right. Not just regular tomato soup. 

Makes 4 servings. 

Syn free on Extra Easy (See extras below for bread & butter)

What you need:

- Tin of chopped tomatoes (inc. the juice)
- Jar of passata
- 3 large fresh tomatoes (chopped)
- 1 large potato (chopped)
- 1 pint vegetable stock
- Salt/pepper/herbs (for seasoning)

1. Put the stock into a saucepan. When boiling, add all the tomato (tinned, fresh & passata) & the potato. 

2. Keep everything bubbling for 30 mins or so, until everything is turning mushy.

3. Place contents of saucepan (minus some of the liquid) into a blender. Blend until smooth. 

4. Tip the blended mixture into a sieve and push the liquid through, back into the saucepan. 

5. Reheat in the saucepan for a few minutes, season and serve.

Extras:

- 2 slices of Warburton's Wholemeal bread (400g medium sliced loaf) - HEB

- 2tbsp I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, Light - 5 syns 

Really easy.

     - Sam

New Year, New Blog

A fresh start for 2014 is the idea. 

I'm planning to be more active in doing the things I love and sharing them with the Internet for whatever reason people share their stuff on the Internet for. 

1st January 2014! I hope last year was fun for you, and if not, let's go into this new one afresh, not worrying about what has been and the things we can't change. 

One day in and I've already been busy - potato, leek & gammon soup. I've been following the Slimming World plan for a while now, so expect some SW friendly food posts! This one was very easy. I mostly made it up as I went along, so you may need to tweak some of the quantities. 

Here she is for your viewing pleasure:

Potato, Leek & Gammon Soup

Makes 2 servings. 

Syn free on Extra Easy (See extras below for bread & butter)

What you need:

- 5 medium sized potatoes (chopped into chunks)

- half a leek (thoroughly cleaned & chopped up)

- an onion (diced)

- cooked gammon (boiled bacon)/ham

- vegetable stock (I used 2 cubes in 1 pint of water)

- Frylight

1. Spray a saucepan with Frylight & add in onions. 

2. When the onions start to brown, add in 1 pint of stock. 

3. Add potato & leek to the saucepan. Bring to the boil, cover & simmer for 25 minutes. 

4. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the vegetables into a blender. Blend until smooth, adding extra liquid from the saucepan if necessary. 

5. Add in chunks of gammon/ham and blend in for a few seconds to disperse the meat throughout the mixture.

6. Pour into a bowl. Add seasoning to make it look good for photographs (I used chives).

Extras:

- 2 slices of Warburton's Wholemeal bread (400g medium sliced loaf) - HEB

- 2tbsp I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, Light - 5 syns 

Obviously you can use any of the B choice breads with this. I had enough syns to 'treat' myself to butter, but it would have been fine without! (Thinking about it now... That's a Freddo I could have eaten instead...)

Mine made enough for 2 meals. I am a party of 1, so no need for huge batches here! Would freeze fine though if you were to make more. 

Enjoy!

     - Sam