One of my favorite ways to eat vegetarian food is as soup. You can be so creative with the ingredients, mixing all sorts of vegetables and herbs together. It’s great to experiment. A lot of my soup recipes have been created purely on the basis of what was in the fridge at the time.

Potato and spinach soup is one of my staples. It is quick, easy and very filling, not to mention convenient. The spinach can be interchanged with nettles, chickweed or lettuce. I like to pick my own nettles or spinach straight from my keyhole garden. There is something very satisfying about eating food you have grown yourself.

Recipe

If you’ve foraged your own leaves you will need:

Half a carrier bag of your chosen leaf or a 75g bag if shop bought
1 medium potato
1 medium carrot
I medium onion
1 clove of garlic
Tablespoon of cream, yogurt or soya alternative
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of nutmeg
250 ml of vegetable stock

Wash and peel the vegetables then cut into even sized pieces.
Fry the onion and garlic together then add the vegetable stock, potato, carrot and let them cook on a medium heat for 7 to 8 minutes.
Add the leaves and seasoning and cook for a further five minutes or until the leaves are soft.
Put the whole lot through a food blender and blast it until the mixture is completely liquefied.

This recipe is lovely served with warm crusty bread and topped with a dollop of cream or vegan alternative. It is also very tasty with a small amount of cheese grated over the top. The addition of both of these will add significantly to the calorie content, so if you are watching your weight, add sparingly or not at all.

The ingredients above will do as one serving so if you want some to freeze and go back to later, then increase the quantities accordingly. This soup is highly nutritious and very comforting. It takes around 30 minutes to prepare, and up to 30 minutes cooking time; depending on the size of the chucks you cut.

Spinach is packed with vitamins and minerals that assist with keeping the body strong, and healthy. Cooked spinach is excellent for eliminating the toxicity of oxilic acid which can be found in many green leafy vegetables when eaten raw.

Hope you like it!