Winter as arrived with a bang – and for me this signals a big bowl of warm soup, buttered toast in front of the fire for a Sunday night supper!

Hopefully you have invested in a slow cooker this year – it is a great addition to your kitchen and you will find reasons to use it all year round. Especially handy for those working women, but also a sensible way to prepare a family meal in the morning for those lucky enough to be at home with the children.

Put it together, switch it on low and you are done – I remember what days at home with the children could be like! Calm and organised one minute, and then chaotic the next!

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 large carrots, chopped into chunks
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled & chopped
• 4 cups pumpkin, peeled & cut into chunks
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp curry powder (I use a hot curry but make this suit your taste)
• 1 pinch ground chilli powder
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup water

In a large frying pan soften the onion and garlic in the oil. Add prepared vegetables and flour mixing well and allowing the flour to absorb the oil.

Pile this mixture into the slow cooker, and add the remaining ingredients.

Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.

When the vegetables are tender, puree with your ‘stick blender’ until smooth. (I do this in the slow cooker – but if you wanted to you could do this in batches in your food processor)

Adjust the consistency to suit your taste – I like my soup to be a little thick 🙂

You could use some light coconut cream to thin it down a little or a reduced-fat sour cream for a ‘thicker option’.

Garnish with coriander and pumpkin seeds if you chose to use coconut cream or with some chopped fresh mint with the sour cream!

Crunchy buttered toast on the side and you are ready to relax into Sunday night!

Happy ‘souping’ xx