Carrot and Parsnip Soup

What to do with some past-their-best root veg?  Make soup!  (hoorah for the StarChef :o))  I had a huge parsnip and some carrots to use up this time...

 

Carrot and Parsnip Soup (serves 4; 126kcals, 18.5g carbs, 2.6g protein, 5g fat, 5.7g fibre, 2 portions fruit & veg):-

• 1 enormous or 2 medium parsnips
• 1 fat garlic clove
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• about 250g carrots
• 15ml extra virgin olive oil
• ½ Tsp Thyme
• 1 medium onion

Roughly chop the veg, an onion and slice up the fat garlic clove.

Sweat the onion and garlic in some olive oil and add the vegetables and thyme, mixing through thoroughly.

Add made-up stock (using 1 litre of water) and cook on a low heat for an hour, minimum.  (I use the "soup" setting on my JML StarChef jobbie which uses a low and consistent heat, having used the "vegetables - fry" setting to sweat the onion and garlic - only 1 pan to wash!)

Blend everything with a hand blender.  Heat and serve or portion up and chill for later.

It's really smooth and creamy.  I'll be using this as a hot lunch with a roasted chicken breast either on the side or as a snack later in the afternoon for a protein boost as this is quite a low protein recipe for my liking.

Tasty lunchies and chin-ups

I've been having lots of fun with the Star Chef and the wide-mouthed Thermos  since I got them and it's SO NICE to have home-made, tasty, hot, nutritious lunches!  Seriously!  The latest one was a spiced soup of parsnips and apple:-

Serves 4 for lunches (approx. 200kcals per portion, 27g carb, 4g protein, 8g fat, 3 portions F&V):-

Ingredients:

• 500-600g Parsnips
• 1 Medium English Apple
• 2 Medium Onion, Chopped
• 15ml Groundnut or other flavourless oil
• 1 Tsp Cumin Seeds
• 1 Tsp Coriander Seeds
• 1 Tsp Powdered Turmeric
• 2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 Tsp Ground Ginger
• 1.25 litres vegetable stock
• 4 Tbps half fat crème fraîche

Method:

• Toast the coriander and cumin seeds then grind them with a pestle and mortar.
• Heat the oil in a saucepan, then add the onions and soften for about 5 minutes before adding the garlic.
• Cook for another 2 minutes, then add the ground spices, along with the turmeric and ginger, stir and cook gently for a few more minutes.
• Chop the parsnips into 1 inch chunks.
• Add the parsnips to the saucepan, stir well to coat with the spices and oils, then pour in the stock.
• Season and simmer for half an hour with the lid off, then half an hour with the lid on.
• When the soup has been simmering for an hour, remove it from the heat, and use a hand blender to make it smooth - leave a few chunks if you'd like to.
• When you're ready to serve it, either now or after chilling/freezing into portions, peel the apple and grate it into the soup. Simmer the soup for 3-4 minutes/reheat in the microwave/slow cooker, decant into bowls and add a small dollop (15g) creme fraiche and grind over some black pepper to serve.

I did all of the cooking steps in my Star Chef, first on "fry" mode for the onions, garlic and spices, then on "soup/stew" mode once the stock was added.  Only one pan to dirty, that way.

I'm trying to wind things back a bit this week after last week's huge exercise haul and the end of the week with a dodgy innards.  So, I've cycled into work once and gymmed once so far (gymming and cycling home tomorrow) but the gymmage has gone a bit hybrid now, mixing two routines for a bit of variety:-

• Warm up - 500m on L7 on the rower (01:55/500m pace)
• Squats on the Smith machine - 3x10, Olympic bar plus 35kg
• Chin ups using the Smith machine for a bar - 3x4, bodyweight
• Squat and overhead swing - 3x10, 20kg dumb-bell - superset A
• Reverse crunch with leg raise - 3x15 slowly - superset A
• Walking lunges with kettlebell - 3x20, 24kg kettlebell
• Squat, one-arm clean and jerk - 3x20, 14kg dumb-bell

And today my abs and pecs are saying "HI!" quite loudly :o)

But seriously!  12 chin-ups!  OK, they were in 3 sets of 4 and apart from the first one in each set they weren't completely from hanging, but I'm still really really pleased with them!  I fully intend to get a photo of me doing some in my new "Strong is the new skinny" tank vest when it arrives :o)

Back to it!

Yeah, it looks like not bothering to publish daily means that I slip a bit more than when I plan to slip a bit and go public with it. So. Back to it! Almost completely, 'cause we've had roasted haggis tonight, with neeps, tatties, swede, carrots and gravy:-



Exercise - still resting up my leg; with a side of deep-tissue massage

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla whey, frozen blueberries and pecan nuts
S - banana
L - salad - spinach, sweet peppers, capers, celery, herby goats cheese and lemon juice
S - a pear
S - beef jerky
D - roasted haggis with neeps, tatties, swede, carrots and gravy
S - slice of banana and raisin malt loaf

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1731 1815]
Protein (g)	109.3 (25.9%)
Carbohydrate (g)	184.5 (41%)
Fat (g)	62.1 (33.1%)
Fruit & Veg	9.0