The perfect winter warmer
A thick and oh so flavourful beans and vegetable soup that cooks in 30 minutes. With winter nibbling at our fingertips in the mornings and evenings, we’re almost automatically looking for some warm comfort food. This soup is perfect for a busy week night because it won’t take years to cook! It has all the healthy nourishment you want for your family and… wait for it… it’s topped with cheese!
This recipe is perfect for Meat Free Monday as it’s vegetarian and I promise you the meat lovers won’t even miss the meat! Without making you feel like you’ve devoured a meal fit for an elephant, this will leave you feeling warm and satisfied.
Now, usually I wouldn’t mind doing the chopping as it is a bit of stress release. This time, however, I opted for the prepared soup veggie mix from Food Lover’s Market because it was so affordable, the bright colours just looked gorgeous sitting there on their shelf and I actually can’t bring myself to buy celery on it’s own.
Save the celery!
I like the odd little bit of celery in soup, it does make a valuable contribution to the overall soupy flavour. However, in it’s fresh form I just can’t stand the stuff! Sadly for celery and eggplant, they will probably never be welcomed into my kitchen with open arms. Sneaking them in so that I could hardly notice them myself worked out just great. I saved time by not having to chop all the ingredients, I saved celery from ultimately ending up in the dustbin and saved my nose the trauma.
Soup is one of my absolute favourites! I could easily make a soup at least twice a week. The boys are hesitant about butternut soup (maybe it’s butternut in general) but they adore their green soup and a good few cups of kale in this soup helped it to get the stamp of approval.
Served with some crusty, toasted sourdough bread to dip in and scoop up all the tasty goodness! Then bask in the glow of that lovely warm and fuzzy feeling in your tummy.
Spinach & Ricotta Canneloni with Homemade Tomato Salsa
Ingredients
- Olive oil spray, to grease
- 500 g frozen spinach, thawed, excess water drained
- 300g fresh ricotta
- 1 tsp crushed garlic
- 2 tbsp double cream
- pinch of ground nutmeg
- 16 Cannelloni
- 20g (1/4 cup) grated Parmesan cheese
Tomato Salsa
- 1 tin diced tomatoes
- 1 tsp crushed garlic
- 40g (1/4 cup) pitted black olives, chopped
- 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C. Spray a large, deep oven dish with olive oil spray to lightly grease. Place on a baking tray. Place spinach in a bowl. Add the ricotta, garlic, cream and nutmeg, and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
- The canneloni I bought does not need to be cooked before filling. Therefore, using a teaspoon, fill uncooked canneloni tubes with the spinach mixture one by one. Place in the prepared dish in one layer.
- To make the salsa, combine tomato, garlic, olives and parsley in a bowl. Spoon salsa over cannelloni and sprinkle with Parmesan. Cover dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for a further 10 minutes or until golden. Serve immediately.
