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Unless otherwise stated all these recipes make a big pot of soup - good for four people to have seconds.

Using up leftover redwood turkey roast here but you could also use a pack of cheatin chicken or indeed leave out the meat sub altogether - it's the veg that makes it delicious anyway!

Ingredients:

1 leek, finely chopped

2 carrots, thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

a handful of small broccolli florets

1 tin of sweetcorn (320g or thereabouts)

1 pack of vegan noodles (supernoodle style though other cheaper brands are just as good - discard the flavour sachet). Alternatively you could use some spaghetti or other pasta/noodles of your choice broken up and increase cooking time a bit.

chicken sub torn up into bitesize pieces

1 stock cube (we used Kallo Organic)

water to cover well

salt to taste

May not sound appetising but it is a rich and strongly flavoured tomato soup, invented for a man with a cold (manflu) so it has medicinal properties and a high nutritional value :)

Ingredients:

A little sunflower oil

2 onions, chopped

7 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 courgette, chopped

3 sticks of celery, chopped (yeah, everything is chopped)

1 large sweet potato, peeled and (uh-huh) chopped

1 small peeled white potato CHOPPED!

2 tins of tomatoes

about a cup of spring water (rinse out the tins with it)

a handful of fresh sage leaves (grow your own!)

about 2 heaped tablespoons of dried arame seaweed

1 tablespoon miso paste

1 teaspoon of vecon vegetable stock (or any stock of choice, will also work fine without)

into the first version I made I popped a small bowl of leftover vegetable curry, but a half teaspoon of curry powder will suffice if you want the spicy warmth for your poor throat

himalayan rock salt to taste (or any other salt)

optional fresh ground black pepper

fresh parsley to garnish

Fry the onion, garlic and vegetables in the oil a few minutes then add the tomatoes and all other ingredients EXCEPT salt and pepper. Bring to boil, turn down to simmer until potatoes are soft. Liquidise up with a hand blender (or jug if you don't have a hand one). Taste and see if you need salt - the miso and stock can be quite salty so you might not. Add salt and pepper if needed. Top with fresh chopped parsley and enjoy...

Butternut Soup

Very simple but also very tasty and nourishing! Nice on its own or with some rice or pasta popped on the top.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of sunflower oil

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and roughly chopped

2 pints/4 cups/1200ml of water approx

salt and pepper as desired

Fry the onion and garlic in the oil for a few minutes and then add the squash and stir well. Add water and bring to the boil - turn down to simmer and cook until the squash is tender (about 20 minutes). Alternatively, if making in advance you can slow cook by bringing to the boil and then turning off and leaving for at least an hour. Season and liquidise until smooth. A spicy and warming variation is created by adding a little curry or chilli powder during the onion frying.

Vegetable and Barley Soup

Chunky meal of a soup

Ingredients:

5 or 6 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 leeks cut into round slices

3 carrots, roughly chopped

5 celery sticks, cut onto chunks

1 cup of dried pearl barley

2 heads of swiss chard (or similar green leaf such as leaf beet or a couple of handfuls of spinach), chopped

enough water to cover

Salt and pepper to taste

Very simple to prepare this one! Place all your vegetables except the chard in a large pan with the barley. Cover well with water, boil and simmer until everything is cooked. Add the chard and salt and cook for another 5 minutes.

This is a recipe that we almost always have at Halloween - we scrape out as much pumpkin flesh as we can before making the lantern!

Ingredients:

2 onions, chopped

A little vegetable oil or vegan margarine

The flesh of 1 pumpkin

3 to 4 cups of soya milk

seasalt to taste

freshly ground black or mixed pepper to taste (we like lots)

Fry the onion in the oil or margarine for a few minutes until soft then add the pumpkin and salt and cook for a further few minutes. Add the soya milk and bring to the boil - reduce heat and simmer gently until the pumpkin flesh is soft. Place the soup in a liquidiser and blend until smooth and frothy. Add the pepper - we find it a good idea to let everyone add their own.

Pictured below is a soya free variant using water instead of soya then chucking in a handful of macadamia nuts before blending - scrummy, served here with runner beans from the garden. As the pumpkins in this one were from the garden and so fresh we didn't even need to peel them.

Ingredients:

a little sunflower oil

2 leeks, chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped

3 sticks of celery with leaves (if have), chopped

2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped

water to cover well

1 bag of watercress (about 3 good handfuls) - reserve some small sprigs for garnish

seasalt to taste

Soften the leeks, garlic and celery in the oil for a few minutes, then add the potato. Cover well with water, bring to boil, turn down to simmer until potatoes are soft. Add watercress, remove from heat and leave to sit for 5 minutes. Season with salt and blend (handblender easiest). Garnish - also goes well with chopped parsley :)

A small pea soup related joke: you must answer "pea green soup" to all questions - go on! What did you have for breakfast? What did you have for lunch? What did you have for dinner? What did you do all night? Apologies... the joke may be bad but the soup is not - it's thick and delicious!

Ingredients:

500g/1.2kg/2cups green split peas, soaked overnight

2 onions, chopped

3 carrots, finely diced

4 small, new potatoes (or 1 old large old... peeled if not new), diced

1 bay leaf - make little tears in it if fresh

1 teaspoon vecon stock (optional)

seasalt to taste

water to well cover ingredients

Place your soaked peas in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to boil then turn down to simmer for about half an hour. Add the onions, carrots, potatoes, stock and bay leaf and cook until tender (probably about 20 minutes). Partially blend up with a hand blender, leaving some texture of carrots and potatoes. Add salt to taste. Served on the right with onion bread and locally grown cherry tomatoes :)

delicious made by the kids!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of vegan margarine

3 small onions or 1 very large onion, roughly chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 head of celery, chopped

2 tablespoons of flour

up to 1 litre of soya milk (about 2 pints)

salt to taste

a teaspoon of purple corn extract for an unusual, contrasting garnish (optional, the more traditional parsley is nice too)

Fry the onion and garlic in the marg. for a few minutes. Add the celery and cook until softened (only a few minutes again). Pop in your flour and stir well, then gradually add the soya milk over a gentle heat, stirring all the time. Stop once you've reached a nice creamy consistancy, add a little salt and blend up in a blender for smoothest results or a hand blender will also do. Garnish.

Ingredients:

Onions (1 or 2), chopped

A little sunflower oil

Potatoes (2 lb/1 kilo/6 cups), cut into chunks

Carrots (about 1 lb/450g/3 cups), cut into chunks

Turnip (8oz/200g/1 cup) - optional

Kale (or dark green cabbage) chopped

Garlic to taste, chopped

Herbs of your choice, fresh or dried (we tend to use sage)

Seasalt to taste

Fry the onion in the sunflower oil for a few minutes to seal the flavour then place all the other ingredients except the kale or cabbage in a pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer until the vegetables are cooked (15 - 20 minutes). Add the green vegetables 5 - 10 minutes before cooking is finished to prevent them being over-cooked. Mash well.

The quantities given make quite a large pan of soup - we eat half one day and store the rest in the fridge until the next day - you may wish to change the quantities to suit your needs.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of sunflower oil

2 medium leeks, sliced widthways into thin round slices

2 or 3 cloves of garlic (crushed, optional)

6-8 large potatoes, cut into chunks (about 2 or 3 cm.)

2 tablespoons of white flour

1 cup of frozen peas

5 or 6 cups of water

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the leeks and garlic, if using, in the sunflower oil for a few minutes then stir in the flour. Add one cup of water and stir well to blend. Add the potatoes and the rest of the water (you may need to adjust the quantity slightly - make sure all the vegetables are well covered). Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, and then turn down to simmer until the potatoes are just about cooked. Finally add the peas and cook for a further few minutes until tender. Season to taste.

Ingredients:

A little olive oil

1 onion

2 or 3 cloves of garlic (optional)

2 or 3 large sweet potatoes (the pink fleshed variety), peeled and roughly chopped

1 tin of tomatoes (approx. 400g/12oz)

Salt and pepper to taste

Fry the onion and garlic in the olive oil for a few moments. Add the sweet potatoes and tomatoes and simmer until the potatoes are just tender. Add the salt and pepper and liquidise until smooth.

My family loves this soup with some whole-wheat pasta and fresh herbs on top, but you could also use rice or just have it on it's own with some bread or as pictured topped with borage flowers and paired with tofu quiche Borage is very easy to grow and will self seed itself every year for you, giving you thousands of flowers :) seeds

Minted Noodle Soup

Although a hot dish it is nice for summer days as the mint is refreshing. This does make a large pot - it worked out well for a family of four to have over two lunches, storing it in the fridge overnight.

Ingredients:

250g/6oz (half a standard pack) of spaghetti

approx 9 or 10 cups of water/about 4 pints

4 cloves of garlic, very finely chopped

1 large onion, chopped

5 sticks of celery, diced quite small

seasalt to taste

Break the spaghetti up into small pieces (about 6 cm./2 inches long) into a large saucepan. Cover with the water and turn up the heat to full. Bring to the boil while you prepare and add the other ingredients with the exception of the mint. Once boiling turn down to simmer for about 15 minutes until everything is cooked. Add the mint and cook for a further 2 or 3 minutes and serve sprinkled with generous amounts of chopped fresh parsley (optional but it was really good!).

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of vegan margarine or oil

2 tablespoons of white flour

1 onion, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

Freshly picked and washed young nettles (several good handfuls - picked with gloves and caution!)

2 cups soya milk

1 cup water or stock

salt and pepper to taste

Fry the onion and garlic in the oil or marg. for a few minutes then stir in the nettles (no need to chop or remove stalks) until they soften. Stir in the flour and gradually add the soya milk and water or stock, stirring all the time. Add seasonings and liquidise. Delicious... Also see an alternative version with potato instead of soya here on Frugal Living in the UK

Invented to use up some spinach which had been a 'bed' for serving other things and had become a bit dried up.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of sunflower oil

1 leek, chopped

5 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 red chilli chopped (optional)

4 or 5 sticks of celery, finely chopped

1 tablespoon of flour (I used a doves farm gluten free one)

a few good handfuls of fresh spinach

2 cups of soya milk

water to cover ingredients (the more you add the thinner soup will be - I used about a cupful)

salt to taste

a little white wine (optional)

Fry the leek, garlic and chilli, if using, in the oil for a few minutes. Add the celery and cook for another few minutes until starting to soften. Add the flour and mix well, then throw in the spinach and mix round. Add the soya milk, water, salt and wine, if using. Stirring continuously, bring to a simmer then switch off and remove from heat. Cover and leave for a few minutes (gives you time to set table etc.). Blend until smooth in a food processor or with a hand blender. Yum :)

Ingredients:

about 3 pints of water

1 onion, chopped

4 carrots finely cut into inch long strips

4 sticks of celery cut up much the same as the carrots

about 10 kale leaves (or other green veg like brocolli or cabbage)

about a cup of dried corn/rice noodles (you can substitute any but these are great)

2 tablespoons of fresh miso (the fresh has the best taste and texture but is the domain of health food shop fridges - you can buy dried miso soups and noodles in many supermarkets)

a little seasalt as desired

Bring the water to the boil as you prepare and add the vegetables and noodles. Let simmer for about 10 minutes then mix the miso in a cup of hot but not boiling water to disolve it. Take the soup off the heat once the noodles are soft and mix in the miso and salt.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of sunflower oil

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

about 8 large to medium carrots, scraped and cut up into chunks

1 tin of cooked butter beans (large limas), about 400g

2 pints/4 cups/1200ml of water approx

a little seasalt as desired

Fry the onion and garlic in the oil for a few minutes and then add the carrot and stir well. Add water and bring to the boil - turn down to simmer and cook for about 15 minutes until the carrot is cooked through. Add the beans and cook for a further 5 minutes or so until they are properly heated through. Season and liquidise - was nice left a little rough but you might prefer to keep going until smooth.

Ingredients:

1 tabespoon of olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon of curry powder

6 medium carrots, roughly chopped

4 large sticks of celery, cut into pieces

2 pints/4 cups/1200ml of water

seasalt to taste

Fry the onion and garlic in the oil for a few minutes and then add the curry powder and stir to release the flavours. Add the carrots, celery and water and cook gently until the vegetables are tender. Whizz up in a liquidiser/blender until smooth and add salt.

Ingredients:

500g/12oz/2 cups of red lentils

approx 9 or 10 cups of water

1 whole bulb of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

either a large sprig of fresh rosemary, finely chopped or two teaspoons of dried

4 medium carrots diced quite small

seasalt to taste

Place the lentils in a large saucepan and cover with the water - bring to the boil while preparing the other ingredients. Reduce to a simmer and add the garlic, rosemary and carrots. Cook for a further 20 minutes until everything is ready and add the salt.

Ingredients:

2 cups of dried yellow split peas, washed and soaked in water overnight

5 or 6 cups of water

1 large onion, chopped

3 carrots, chopped small

1 small turnip (or neep!) cut into small cubes

Salt and pepper to taste

Place the split peas in a large saucepan and cover well with water. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for about an hour or until the peas are soft and starting to go a bit mushy. Add the onion, carrots and neep and cook for a further 20 minutes until everything is tender. Season and enjoy with wholemeal bread...

Ingredients:

1 large or 2 small avocados

I tin of tomatoes

A good handful of fresh lovage

Parsley to taste

1 stick of celery

small amount of seasalt

1 cup of apple juice

1 cup of water

Place all the above in a blender and liquidise until smooth. Can be served chilled.

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 leek, sliced

1 carrot, diced

1 pepper, diced

1 potato, diced or new potatoes, sliced

1 small can sweetcorn

1 small can black eyed beans

1 handful of pasta

2 1/2 pints/7 cups of good stock (marigold vegan powder)Adjust stock to taste may need more/less

1 heaped teaspoon of marmite

mixed herbs

salt and pepper

Fry onion and garlic, add other ingredients, expect beans and pasta and cook for approx 15/20 mins until veg is tender. Add beans and pasta cook for another 10/15 mins. Serve with nutritional yeast on top or with crusty bread.You can put any veg you like in it and it tastes better the next day, this makes loads by the way!