One way of quickly upping your plant intake is a soup. I usually make a ‘bottom of the fridge’ soup with whatever is leftover. Add a handful of red lentils to bulk it out and thicken it up and it’s job done! I would usually spice it up a bit with chili flakes, coconut milk or similar, but Cc only likes a nice plain soup. So for her, Roasted Carrot and Parsnip is perfect. Then we pimp it up with chilli flakes and pumpkin seeds on top alongside a dollop of coconut yoghurt. I did sneak in some wrinkly red and yellow peppers to this week’s version and made a salty rosemary foccacia-style bread to dip.
Roasted Carrot and Parsnip Soup
- Red onions
- Carrots
- Parsnips
- Red lentils
- Vegetable stock cube
- Hot boiled water
- Optional pepper
- Chop veg into bite size pieces and roast with olive oil salt and pepper in the oven until cooked and soft in the middle.
- Meanwhile, fry off the onion in a large, deep pan until translucent and softened.
- Crumble the stock cube into the pan and add a large handful of dry red lentils to thicken.
- Once cooked, add the roasted veg to the pan, give everything a good stir and add hot boiled water. The lentils thicken it quite a lot so add more than you think – better to add it now than loosen it at the end as you’ll end up diluting the flavour.
- Let bubble for half an hour so the flavours mingle, then blend with a stick blender or put through a processor or blender.
- Top with whatever you like – our favourites are chilli flakes, coconut yoghurt and pumpkin seeds.
The Chimney House 