Winter soup recipe with a mindful twist

So its a cold wet and windy morning in the UK today. Myself and my little girl are full of a cold and shes quite run down .needing lots rest. We're usually in full on school routine or on a weekend all together with my son also. My amazing mum offered to take my little boy to his preschool this morning to save me dragging out my poorly daughter.

Funnily enough my dad had been texting me the night before regarding a gorgeous homeade soup ( my dads a fantastic cook by the way an is always in the mood for a good home cooked "tea").

His was probably must tastier than mine, but nonetheless my daugther and I needed some soup!

I went ahaead and ordered an UBER shop from my local co-op. I love to do this when i'm at home with the kids and need last minute shopping.

The Ingredients :

• Cooking oil

• Butter

• Potatoes

• Carrots

• Celery

• Leeks

• Cabbage

• Onions

• Parsnips

• Chicken stock cube

Aura loves to help me in the kitchen and desbite bein poorly she always loves to help me chop veg, we also have a brill age appropriate chopping set with safety knives (highly recommend for parents of littles) So i set up Aura with some potatoes to chop while i made a start at the stove.

As instructed by my dad (@Papagrylls over on instagram who loves outdoors, kayaking in local lochs and cooking) .....To start; Put some oil butter and dices onions in a pan on low.

( I personally use frozen onions for a few reasons, they already come diced, saves me from literal tears, i only have to use the amount i need and prevents me from wasting onions that i don't cook and go off and i always have them in).

Now add your diced potatoes. While these are all creating some tasty flavours, get back to the chopping board to prep the rest of your veg. Myself and my mini then chopped our celery, carrots, parsips and leeks.

I sat these in a bowl allowing them to sit a side while i boiled the kettle and made up some chicken stock, with a general chicken oxo cube (nothing fancy). Now for the seasoning into the pan over ll the potatoes... I added salt, pepper and garlic seasoning, and because i didn't want no plain tasteless "vanilla" soup, i also added paprika, a river dunns all purpose Jamaican seasoning and a squeeze of garlic paste.

Pooring in the stock water i made, and adding in the veg giving everything a stir.... One thing i didn't mention ealrier was the cabbage, that's because i didnt chop. I also buy cabbage, this isn't neccesary for the soup it's just a veg i personally LOVE.

Now it's time to let the pot simmer for 30 mins or so upto (i'm relaxed cooker and don't like specific amounts or timings lol), the veg to soften and the gorgeous flavours to marry each other while we do the boring stuff and reset the kitchen.

Once ready.. you can either mash with a potatoe masher like myself. Or if you're not a lumpy soup girly or a "professional" like my dad Papagrylls you cn use an electric hand blender so smooth the soup.... and serve!

MY BONUS TIPS for and extra special soup eating experience...

• I bought those half cooked baguettes that need going into the oven to give a fresh baked bred taste and smell to the home The came out perfectly warm in the middle and crunchy on the edge... of course i added lots of lurpak for extra taste.

• For my kitchen witches or anyone looking for quiry ways to bring healing to the family when surrounded by winter viruses.... a great little tip for my woo woo girls. Did you know you can set healing affirmations and intention into your meals. I like to do this when adding seasoning ans stiring. i also found it a cute practice for my little girl to repeat them with me.

We said a little "Dear soup, please use these tasty veg to heal us and keep us healthy and protect us from being poorly". Ofcourse you'll think i'm crazy or definatley do this the next time youre stiring your cup of tea.

BUT if you fancy doing some reseach you can look up the guy who did a similar thing with rice. The rice that had loving intentions and words spoke to it was healthy while the rice that were spoken to with hateful and negative words turned black and looked "off".

Enjoy your soup and happy healing and protection to those reading. For those of you who are suprised and are like wow this makeup girly is actually a crazy geek... Well i'm actually all and more.

If you liked this recipe and enjoyed reading I would love to hear back from you! <3 and if you love the way i incorporate mindfulness and manifesting into my day to day life but want more... i'll be launching my in depth workshops in January!! To get on the list or find out more get in touch <3

Take care, Moll!