'Souper' Tomato & Carrot Soup for Students

'SOUPER' TOMATO & CARROT SOUP FOR STUDENTS

For the last nine months I've been at uni, I've been too afraid to make soup. They say it's one of those dishes that's just so typically student, but I've avoided making it like the plague. Whenever my Mum used to make soup for us at home, it always looked like such a detailed, time consuming process and I could never quite figure out how she managed to somehow produce this amazing bowl of incredibly tasty soup from seemingly nothing. What did she put in, how did she go about doing it, what was her secret? Honestly I still don't know and it still confuses me, but yesterday dear readers, along with taking advantage of being able to use cheesy puns like 'souper', I decided I would throw caution to the wind and instead of using valuable revision time for my exam, I would of course make my first ever soup. 

The surprising thing was like everyone pretty much says, but I stupidly chose to ignore, making soup it turns out, is actually pretty easy and rather satisfying for the soul too. I feel a little bit silly now for being too scared to attempt it for so long, but nevertheless I'm also rather happy as it means I have a new recipe to add to the ever growing collection I've acquired at uni so far, and I can also proudly declare to the world that I can finally make soup. It's pretty awesome, and the nice thing was the recipe I followed was completely derived from one of my favourite past times: winging it. Instead of religiously following that nice looking but rather complex Jamie Oliver recipe I found, and all the others that use gorgeous ingredients that my student budget unfortunately doesn't quite accommodate to if I want to eat for the next few years, I decided I'd take inspiration from what I found on le intraweb, see what I had in the cupboard that was similar-ish and work from there instead.

The result was sooooo tasty (not to blow my own trumpet there but had to be said), something I completely wasn't expecting in the slightest, due to 1) me winging it with the recipe and ingredients, and 2) my lack of having ever made soup before. So that's naturally why I thought I simply had to share this whole soup making experience with you guys, as well as give you my nifty little home made recipe that's super cheap and super tasty (big pluses when you're a student), and if you do end up making it, please do feel free to tell me what you think!

(Also I hope you like the so-bad-it's-good pic of my soup. One day I'll take real nice high quality pics like every other blogger, but today wasn't that day and anyways, I feel like it perfectly fits the whole student viiiiibe.)

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INGREDIENTS

(makes two portion)

1 x carrot
(49p for 7*= 7p per carrot)

1 x small/ medium onion

(55p for 7*= 7p per onion)

1 x can of tomatoes

(31p*)

1 x clove of garlic

(75p* for 4 cloves= 18p per clove)

3 x tbsps of olive oil

(99p* per bottle)

2 tsp tomato purée

(37p* per tube)

1/2 a cup of hot water

1 tsp basil

1tsp oregano

1tsp chilli powder

1 chicken stock cube

*price at Lidl at time of writing

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RECIPE

1

Chop the onions and carrots into chunks, then in a frying pan cook the onion and garlic in a splash of oil until the onion is golden brown.

2

In a saucepan add the carrot, tomatoes, oil, tomato purée, water, herbs & spices (don't turn on the hob yet!).

3

When the onion and garlic is cooked add to the saucepan and then turn on the heat, stirring the soup to blend all the ingredients nicely together.

4

When it starts boiling switch to a lower heat and let the soup simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure nothing burns or over boils!

5

Once it's thickened a bit, turn off the heat. You can either blend the mixture if you own a blender (most students don't- I certainly don't but boy do I wish I did!), or eat it as it is, which is what I did and personally think is better as I love being able to taste all the different textures.

6

Eat it with a nice slice of buttered toast or crusty bread and give yourself a pat on the back because you just made one 'souper' nice bowl of soup my friend.