Feel good Chicken Soup (Cheap Tuesday Recipe)

Winter is definitely around the corner, and as much as I have tried to avoid it the dreaded 'Common Cold' has struck me down over the weekend. So this is exactly what I felt like - a healthy feel-good soup to warm me up and make me feel better! And it cheap and easy to make!! This is another one that cost me less than $10 to make (not including pantry staples)

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 500 g Chicken Thigh (or breast) diced
• 1 Brown onion
• 2 tsp of minced garlic
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 L Chicken Stock, salt reduced
• 1 packet of chicken noodle soup ( makes up to a 1 L solution)
• 3/4 cup of pasta
• 2 Carrots, diced into chunks
• 2 Potatoes, diced into chunks
• 3 Celery stalks, diced
• 1-2 tsp's Mixed herb and pepper
• I topped my soup with some spring onion

Method:

• Place large soup pot on stove (medium/high temp) and cook the onion and garlic in the olive oil for about 2 mins
• Add in the chopped up vegetables and herbs, stir and cook for 5 min, stirring often
• Pour in chicken stock and chicken noodle soup mix, bring soup to boil and then allow to simmer for 10-15 min
• Add in diced chicken and cook for further 10 minutes
• Add in pasta last and cook for a further 8-10 minutes or until pasta is tender and chicken and vegetables cooked through!
• Ladle into bowls and add chopped spring onion or herbs on top, and serve with a nice toasted bread!

*Tip from my mum: If you have left over soup the next night, a great way to change it up a bit or if more liquid is needed; add a tin of tomato soup and its corresponding water gives the soup a whole new flavour!

Enjoy xxx

Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Soup - Cheap Tuesday Recipe

Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Soup

This is a great recipe coming into the colder months, very easy to make and cost me only $10 for ingrediants (minus the spices, oil and garlic which i already had) 

Serves 6 

Ingredients:

• 1 Kg of Pumpkin ( I used Kent)
• 1/2 Kg of Sweet Potato
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 Large Onion (chopped finely)
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 L of chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 tsp of cumin
• 1 tbsp of Italian/ mixed herb
• 1/2 of chopped spinach leaves
• drizzle of low fat thickened cream or sour cream to serve

Method:

• Cut the pumpkin and sweet potato up into roughly 1-2 cm cubes (remembering that the smaller the pieces the less time they will take to cook), also chop onion.
• In a large pot fry the onion  in the olive oil until soft, then add in garlic and spices and cook for extra minute.
• Add in the pumpkin, sweet potato, spinach and stock. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes or until vegetables are soft and break apart easily.
• Turn heat off and cover soup, allowing to cool a bit before blending it.
• I used a kenwood hand blender, which made it a lot easier and less messy as I could just blend the soup while it was still in the pot!
• Serve soup with a drizzle of cream and some nice crusty bread.

Enjoy xxx