green vegetable soup

I’ve made this green vegetable soup because I’m hungover and I need some goodness in my belly.  I know most people like a good fry-up or a greasy burger after drinking and believe me I usually would but there has been some serious weight-gain on my body every recent months and I want to try and quickly address it prior to Christmas.

I realise with this blog I tend to drift between baking cake and moaning about my fat belly but I’ve been doing so well recently. Since I was sick last year it’s been a slow climb back to health and over the summer I finally hit my stride again.  I wasn’t losing weight (that’s tricky when you’re on steroids) it was more about getting back into a fitness routine and eating better.  My body was starting to tone up again and I was looking forward to fitting back into clothes I hadn’t felt comfortable in since before I was in hospital.  Everything was good and then about a month and a half ago I threw my back out and I’ve been on a downward spiral ever since. Now with Christmas looming, with all it’s delicious recipes it’s hard to stay away from champagne and canapés which seem to be thrust at me around every corner.

So the plan is to take the next two weeks and try and eat light, healthy but filling meals and this green vegetable soup seems to be the place to start.  I’m using my favourite veg in here but you feel free to add what you like, just try and go for lots of different types of texture and shapes to make for a more interesting mouth-feel.  There are so many wonderful veggies out there, so go for it!

• some olive oil
• 4 banana shallots – thinly sliced
• 2 sticks of celery – sliced
• 1 fennel bulb – diced
• seasoning – I used salt, pepper and fresh thyme
• 2 cloves of garlic – crushed
• 6 mini leeks – trimmed and chopped
• a handful of tender stem broccoli  – chopped
• 6 Brussels sprouts – quartered
• 1/2 courgette – halved lengthways and then sliced
• 8 large cavolo nero leaves – chopped
• 60g peas
• one bunch of fresh rocket
• 1 ltr good quality vegetable stock
• 40g pearl barley

heat the olive oil in a pan on a medium to low heat and throw in the shallots, celery and fennel, stir well and let them sauté for a good 5 mins until they begin to soften, then stir in the garlic and leeks and plenty of salt and pepper along with some fresh thyme and let them all gently sauté for another 5 mins

add the broccoli, courgette and Brussels sprouts and let them sauté with the rest of the veg, then add the cabbage on top, place the lid on and let the whole thing sweat for another 5 mins

pour in the stock, then add the peas, rocket and pearl barley, stir well and let it gently bubble away for 20 mins, then take it off the heat and let it cool for 5 mins before serving

eat and of course, enjoy!