Cough Medicine Soup

Gluten Free – Dairy Free – Egg Free – Vegan Recipe

Last winter after my son Ted spent his first term at preschool, he came home with a cough and cold. So I made cough medicine to help with his symptoms. However, Ted really didn’t like the taste of the medicine I made and he would do everything not to take it. So as winter is on its way I have now made it into a soup. Although my son is still not the biggest fan of soup I managed to get more of this dish into him than the cough medicine.

Soup is a perfect warming winter meal. Nutritionists are always urging us to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day in the UK. A bowl of soup is a great way to ensure we get a decent amount of vegetables in our bodies. The soup in this recipe is filling and nutritious. It’s full of vegetables and herbs that will help the body to fight a cold. As I said my son did not really like it but he’s not the biggest soup fan. My mum who I also made this soup for and is suffering with a cough at the moment really enjoyed it. So well worth a try.

Serves 4

Equipment needed

• Sharp knife
• Vegetable peeler
• Chopping board
• Baking tray
• Food processor
• Fork
• Nutribullet
• Large Spoon
• Jug

Ingredients

• Butternut squash x 1 medium
• Carrots x 4 large
• Onions x 2 medium
• Garlic x 6 – 8 cloves
• Fresh Thyme x 1 large handful
• Cannellini beans x 2 tins 400g
• Lemon x 1
• Honey x 2 tbsp
• Olive oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180° and put the baking tray in.
• Start by peeling the butternut squash then chop into quarters and scoop out the seeds in the middle.
• Next peel the carrots and roughly chop into large chunks.
• Then finally chop the onions into quarters.
• Remove the baking tray from the oven and put the chopped vegetables in.
• Now put the butternut squash, carrots and onions into the baking tray.
• Along with the thyme and garlic.
• Then drizzle the contents with olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste.
• Toss all of the ingredients together.
• Now put the tray back into the oven and bake for 30 – 40 minutes.
• Once the vegetables are soft and starting to brown, remove the tray from the oven.
• Leave to cool completely.
• Once the vegetables are cooled remove the skins from the garlic and throw away.
• Then put half of them into the food processor and open a tin of cannellini beans and pour this in too.
• Now blend all of the ingredients together.
• Put this into the jug and repeat the process for the second lot of vegetables.
• Once they are blended if you would like a smoother constistency use the nutribullet or a blender if you have one.
• You will need to do this in two – four parts but once you have blended each part put it into the large saucepan.
  • You may find that this leaves bits in your soup so now use a muslin and sieve the soup through for a really smooth and creamy soup.
• Finally reheat the soup in the saucepan.
• Then serve with a chickpea flour wrap and enjoy.

Cough Medicine soup is a great meal to eat on a wet and cold winters day. Plus this is a great dish that can be kept in the freezer and defrosted when needed. So it can make a quick and simple lunch or dinner too. It’s a meal that could also be made at the weekend, frozen and then eaten mid week. It’s delicious with chickpea flour wraps or spelt flour wraps or with a piece of crusty bread, if you can eat bread. However you decide to eat this dish, as always, enjoy!

What’s your favourite soup flavour? Let me know in the comments below as I would love to hear about them. xxx