Tasty warming soups for winter

A wholesome, healthy vegetable soup or a hearty chicken broth is just the thing to keep you warm this winter. Best of all, these easy to prepare soups keep for days and can easily be frozen, so you can make huge batches and enjoy them for weeks (or months) to come.

Chickpea and carrot soup

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 leek (chopped)
• 500 grams carrot (chopped)
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 300 grams can chickpeas
• 1/3 cup natural yoghurt (to serve)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add leek and carrot to saucepan and cook, stirring for 10 minutes, or until the ingredients are soft.
3. Add orange juice, chicken stock and chickpeas to the saucepan and bring to the boil.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover the saucepan. Simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Blend soup until smooth and return to pan, and season with salt and pepper. Stir over heat until the soup is heated through and serve with yoghurt.

Bacon and corn broth

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 4 shallots (thinly sliced)
• 4 short-cut bacon rashers (cut into thin strips)
• 3 zucchini (chopped)
• 420 grams can corn kernels (drained)
• 420 grams cans creamed corn x 2
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add shallots and bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until the shallots are golden.
3. Add zucchini and cook for 1 minute.
4. Stir in corn kernels, creamed corn and stock.
5. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, for 10 minutes, or until the zucchini is soft.

Broccoli and blue cheese soup

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion (chopped)
• 1 large potato (peeled and cubed)
• 1litre vegetable stock
• 1 head broccoli (chopped)
• 100 grams blue cheese (crumbled)

Directions:

1. Cook the onion in olive oil in a large pan until soft, around 5 minutes.
2. Pour in stock and add potato, then simmer for 10 minutes, until the potato is tender.
3. Toss broccoli into the saucepan and cook for 3-4 minutes until tender, but still bright green.
4. Add half the cheese to the mix and blend to a smooth soup in a blender.
5. Season with salt and pepper, then serve with the remainder of the blue cheese crumbled over the top of each bowl of soup.

More healthy recipes

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Healthy swaps: What to snack on
Winter vegetables to try