Recipe: Minestrone Soup

I've been feeling a little under the weather today. Lack of sleep, a busy weekend at work, and a few semi-stressful things happening have left me a bit drained. So, I've taken to the couch with a massive bowl of this soup, the US Office on Netflix and a pot of green tea. Being productive can wait for another day!

Minestrone recipe

three large carrots, roughly chopped

one large onion, roughly chopped

1/2 savoy cabbage, shredded

2 handfuls of spinach

400g tin of beans of your choice

400g tin of chopped tomatoes

150g small pasta

2l vegetable stock

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

• Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the carrots, onion and garlic for five minutes until softened
• Add the vegetable stock, tinned tomatoes and tomato puree, bring to the boil and then simmer for ten minutes
• Stir in the tinned beans, pasta and herbs and boil for a further ten minutes
• Just before you're ready to serve add the cabbage and spinach and cook for two minutes
• Season and serve

Soup is one of my favourite things to cook. It's so simple, a great vitamin boost and perfect for making in bulk. This one takes about half an hour to make, and I've already had two bowls today so it's definitely delicious!

Baking: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

I really wish I could take the credit for this recipe, but it's all down to The Hummingbird Bakery. These cookies are ridiculously tasty, and are an absolute hit with everyone who has tried them. I've made them a couple of times now and they've always came out slightly crisp on the outside and oh so gooey on the inside. Just the way I love cookies! I like to use a crunchy peanut butter, as you then get nice big chunks of peanuts to bite into and a dark cocoa powder gives them a lovely rich taste.

Ingredients

170 grams plain flour

40 grams

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

a wee pinch of salt

115 grams

120 grams

120 grams caster sugar plus 40g extra for rolling

90 grams

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and set the oven to 170 degrees celcius.

Method

1. Sift flour, cocoa powder, bicarb of soda and salt together into a bowl

2. Using an electric mixer cream the butter, butter, vanilla extract peanut butter and both sugars until light and fluffy

3. Add the egg and mix until all ingredients are incorporated

4. Turn the mixer to a slow setting and gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until a dough is formed

5. Pour the 40g of caster sugar into a small bowl. I like to roll the dough into a large sausage shape, and simply cut it into thin(ish) slices to make cookie shapes, but you can roll the dough into small balls. Really it's what you prefer! Roll the cookie in the sugar and place on a baking tray, leaving about 4cm between each cookie as they do spread whilst cooking.

6. Bake for 10-15 mins. I find that around 11 minutes gives the perfect gooey middle, but bake for 15 mins if you like a crispy cookie. Cool before serving, if you can manage to! I always scoff a couple straight out of the oven as they're just THAT good.

If the whole world liked peanut butter this would definitely be my go-to cookie recipe.