With an overflow of tomatoes and capsicums in my kitchen at the moment, this Tomato and Capsicum Soup recipe came across my path at just the right time.  Another great reason to make it is that tomato soup is one that the kids will happily eat up and empty the bowl.

Of course the best part about soup is dipping the bread in and this time I served homemade garlic bread.  It was a great complement but of course you could serve any style of bread you choose.  The warmer, crustier and buttery it is the better.

Tomato and Capsicum Soup

Ingredients

Method

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.   Cook onion, garlic and capsicum until soft (about 5 minutes), stirring occasionally.

Add potato, tomatoes and tomato paste and cook for 5 minutes or until tomatoes have softened.  Add stock and cover.  Bring to the boil then reduce heat to a simmer for 15 minutes or until potato is tender.

Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes before blending until smooth.  Reheat gently if required.  Season with salt and pepper before serving.

Recipe from Super Food Ideas, June 2010

The Klutzy Cook Notes

• It is important to let the soup cool before blending for two reasons.  Firstly, if it splashes on you it won’t be as hot (trust me on this one).  Secondly, your machinery will definitely prefer to handle a cooler mix.  Hand blenders in particular don’t like being immersed in hot liquid and can overheat very quickly.
• To blend the soup either you can use either a hand or stand blender.  The convenience of the hand blender is that the mixture can be left in the saucepan and blended all at once.  For a stand blender, simply transfer the soup in batches and recombine before serving.

If you have any questions or comments regarding this recipe, please leave them below.

Happy New Year! It’s been a while since I last posted but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been cooking. On the contrary there’s been plenty of culinary delights being prepared and so lot’s of new recipes to share.

The Christmas/New Year break whizzed past and it has been an exciting time for us. Not just because of all the seasonal festivities, but we’ve sold a business, bought a caravan (we’re off travelling in about 6 weeks) and are in the throes of buying a new car (we now need a REALLY big one to tow the van). Plus, with school holidays in full swing there has been lots of playing, crafting, movie watching, swimming and visiting going on. It has truly been a great start to the year.

Anyway, on to the Quick Beef Goulash recipe. This is a great speedy recipe that I’ve made many times and is always well received. It has all the traditional goulash flavours but can be made in minutes. Don’t forget the dollop of sour cream to top it off – yum!

Quick Beef Goulash

Recipe from Super Food Ideas

Quick Beef Goulash

Ingredients

1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
500g rump steak, cut into strips
1 brown onion, thinly sliced
200g button mushrooms, thickly sliced
1 tablespoon ground paprika
400g can condensed tomato soup
400g can diced tomatoes
Parsley, chopped, to serve
Sour cream, to serve

Method

Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in frying pan over high heat. Add half of the rump and cook quickly, stir frying, for 3 minutes or until well browned. Set aside and repeat with remaining meat.

Reduce heat to medium and heat remaining oil. Add onions and mushrooms. Cook until tender – about 5 minutes, and then add paprika. Cook stirring for 1 minute.

Add soup and tomatoes, stir well and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Return beef and juices to the pan. Simmer for 3 minutes or until heated through. Season to taste.

Serve over steamed rice (I used brown rice), sprinkle with parsley and add a dollop of sour cream.

During the height of winter there is nothing better than a warming bowl of soup.  This Red Lentil & Tomato Soup from Sanitarium was in my Sunday paper recently and made the perfect winter dinner.

A soup like this not only oozes warmth (not least because it’s a beautiful reddish orange colour) but it also oozes ‘healthy’.  A tasty combination of vegetables, lentils and spices it is a cinch to make and ready in under half an hour.

Red Lentil & Tomato Soup

Red Lentil Tomato Soup

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
500g packet dried red lentils, washed
7 cups water
2 x 440g cans tomatoes
415g can tomato soup
2 zucchini, grated

Method

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and saute onion, garlic and spices until transparent and spices are fragrant.  Add remaining ingredients except zucchini and bring to the boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes then add zucchini.  Season to taste and simmer a further 5 minutes.

The Klutzy Cook Notes

• Don’t drop the grater into the pan (like I did) when grating the zucchini.
• Coriander and cumin could be replaced with a curry powder for a slightly different taste.
• Serve with nice crusty bread or damper.

Enjoy!