Okay, so I thought it would be a little colder outside when I put up this post! But alas, a comforting bowl of soup is welcome in my kitchen any time of year. In spirit of our Jean Challenge I have shared with you all my healthiest and filling soup recipes. I love making at least one of these a week as a handy go-to when I want something healthy but quick (this happens a lot)! I snuck in a chili recipe as well because really, what's the difference? Enjoy and please let me know what you think!

French lentil soup with tomatoes, tarragon and garlic

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 medium onion, small diced
• 4-5 sprigs of thyme, leaves removed and roughly chopped
• 2 tsp dried tarragon, crushed up with your fingers a bit
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and small diced
• 1 large stalk celery, small diced
• 1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 1/3 cups french lentils, picked over, rinsed and drained
• 6ish cups vegetable stock
• salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium low. Add the onions and saute for at least 10 minutes, stirring them around frequently. It shouldn’t sizzle too loudly; this is a slow-cooking kind of process. When the onions are quite soft, add the herbs and paprika and saute for another 5 minutes, stirring all the while. Add the garlic and stir until very fragrant. Add the carrots and celery and cook for another 5-10 minutes, until all vegetables are soft.

Add the can of tomatoes and stir to coat vegetables. Cook out the tomatoes for about 5 minutes so as to remove some of their raw, tin-y-ness. Add drained lentils and stir to coat in the vegetables, oil and tomatoes. Add a splash of the stock and scrape any browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Add remaining stock, give the whole mix a good stir and bring to a boil. Once boiling, return pot to a simmer, cover with a heavy lid and allow cooking for 25-30 minutes or until the lentils are soft. Check in on the pot once in a while and give it a stir. Season to your liking

Serve hot with a bit of fresh herb on top and a nice crust of bread.

Turmeric and Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 and a ½ cups of water (300ml)
• 1/4 a cup of split red lentils (50g)
• 6 carrots (700g)
• 6 tablespoon of coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon of mixed herbs (I use herbs de provence)
• 1 teaspoons of turmeric
• 1 teaspoons of cumin
• 1 teaspoons of mustard seeds

salt and pepper

For the beans:

• 1 can of cannellini beans beans (400g)
• A dozen chestnut mushrooms
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon of dried herbs

Pre-heat the oven to 180C

Then peel the carrots and chop them into slices, place the slices on a baking tray with some olive oil, salt, pepper and mixed herbs. Peel the three garlic cubes and add these to the tray too. Now place the tray in the oven and allow the carrots to cook for about twenty-five minutes, until they’re nice and soft.

While the carrots cook make the lentils, simple place them in a pan of boiling water and allow them to boil for about ten minutes, then let them simmer for ten minutes until they’re totally soft.

Just before the carrots and lentils finish cooking, place the olive oil in a frying pan with the turmeric, cumin and mustard seeds and let them cook until the mustard seeds start popping.

Place the cooked carrots and garlic in a blender with the lentils and the fried herbs, then add the coconut milk and water and blend until smooth and creamy.

Then place the blended soup in a pan to warm while you make your beans and mushrooms.

Finally drain your beans and slice your mushrooms into thin pieces, place these in the frying pan that you used to fry the herbs – this means that the mushrooms and beans will soak up the leftover deliciousness from the pan! Then add two crushed cloves of garlic, a sprinkling of dried herbs and some olive oil and sauté them for about three to four minutes, until the mushrooms turn slightly brown.

Pour your soup into bowls and add the mushrooms and beans on top then enjoy!

Roasted Beet and Potato Soup 

Ingredients:

• 6 potatoes (600g)
• 2 beetroots (400g)
• 1 can of coconut milk (400ml)
• 1 lemon
• 2 teaspoons of coriander powder
• 2 teaspoons of chilli flakes
• 1 teaspoon of cumin powder
• 2 cloves of garlic
• salt and pepper

For the croutons:

• 4 potatoes (400g)
• 1 tablespoon of chilli flakes
• Salt, pepper and olive oil

Start by turning the oven to 200C. Then place the beets, with the skin on, into a baking tray to roast for about an hour.

While these roast, peel the potatoes (just the ones for the soup) and place them into a sauce pan with cold water. Bring the pan to the boil and then let them simmer for about forty five minutes, so that they’re really nice and soft.

If you want to make the potato croutons then chop the remaining potatoes (you don’t need to peel these ones) into small pieces and place them in a tray with lots of olive oil plus the chilli flakes, salt and pepper. Bake for about forty five minutes, until the outside is crispy.

Once the beetroots have cooked set them aside to cool. Once cool peel the skin off; it should just peel off in your hand. Then chop the beets into pieces and place them into a blender. Drain the boiling (soup) potatoes and add them to the blender too along with the lemon juice, cumin, garlic, coriander powder and coconut cream, plus some salt and pepper. Blend until smooth. Then place the soup into a saucepan and let it heat up to the perfect eating temperature.

Pour the soup into bowls and sprinkle each bowl with the roast potato croutons!

Lentil Chilli

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tsp. chili powder
• 1 (16 oz.) bag of brown lentils
• 2 (14.5 oz.) cans no-salt diced tomatoes
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 (32 oz.) cartons vegetable stock or chicken stock
• ⅓ cup fresh chopped cilantro
• sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
• Optional toppings: sour cream, cheddar cheese, croutons, tortilla chips, avocado

In a large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and red bell pepper; saute the vegetables for 8 minutes or until onion is soft and lightly browned.

Stir in garlic and chili powder; cook for 1 minute.

Add lentils, tomatoes, bay leaf and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium-low and simmer partially covered for 30 minutes or until lentils are tender. Remove from the heat and discard the bay leaf.

Transfer 3 cups of cooked chili into a food processor and process until pureed; add the pureed chili back into the remaining chili and stir to combine. Adjust salt and pepper as needed.

Stir in cilantro and serve.

Notes- If you like your chili spicy, add chopped fresh jalapeno or red pepper flakes for some heat

 Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

• Butter (enough to cover the bottom of a large pot)
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 1 large leek, chopped
• 2 medium sized butternut squash
• 1 small potato
• 6 cups of chicken broth

Melt butter in a large soup pot. Saute the onion and leeks until they are almost see through. Dump in the chunks of butternut squash, and cook for a few minutes. Pour in 6 cups of chicken broth.

Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmering. Cook until the chunks are soft and mushy (use a fork to pierce the butternut squash pieces).

Hand blend the contents until all liquid. Top with a dollop of cream or Greek yogurt and serve!