Up early, doing stuff…

I woke with a creaking back this morning and decided to make this into an opportunity to rise early and bee industrious. It is not yet 8.15 and I have already checked emails, made WP comments, boiled eggs, ordered my week’s groceries online and spent a short while cogitating on the nature of soup.

Last night we had one of the best soups I have ever made. It was a lustrous orange-gold with a velvety texture with deep, savoury flavour, which caused Julia to ask if I had included bacon in the recipe. If it had been a voice it would have been James Earl Jones.

The recipe for this nectar? Two onions, a bag of ready chopped carrot and swede (or rutbaga if you prefer) and two cheap vegetable stock cubes. Boil. Liquidise. I did leave it standing for a day before liquidising which may have helped.

I’d ordered the ready chopped veg because I’m lazy and I didn’t bother with any other ingredients because I’m feeling apathetic.

It’s ironic that as I hit the pinnacle of my soup-making career I am actually disposing of my cookery books. Most of them have cost me just a few pounds from charity shops in the past and that is where they will end up. They were remarkably (and sadly) clean when I got them (indicating that they had never been used in anger) and that is how they remain. I do read them to get ideas, but rarely use a cookery book as I either make it up or use a recipe off the internet.

That is enough for now – I have to make breakfast and sandwiches for lunch then start on a full day of non-fun activities which have been planed for me. Such is life.

Sharp-eyed readers may notice that the soup photo has been used before – it’s what we call a stock shot.

36 thoughts on “Up early, doing stuff…”

    1. quercuscommunity Post author

      ๐Ÿ™‚ I have repeated it and it was nearly as good. I think the difference was that I was using more virtuous stock cubes in the second one (organic low salt). I love this soup for being tasty, easy and cheap, and quite honestly, I’m conflicted about which is the best feature…

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  1. arlingwoman

    That soup sounds delicious and thrifty, two things that are gold when woven together. I have favorite cookbooks and revisit others at the change of seasons to step out of the rut. And sometimes they’re just good bedtime reading! And like you, I use them for ideas. Just bought a new one recently, Brown Sugar Kitchen by Tanya Holland. Oh my. A nice selection of healthy and heavy and it won me over with several okra recipes, not to mention the waffles.

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    1. quercuscommunity Post author

      A good cook book is definitely a thing of beauty and way of expanding your repertoire. Unfortunately, after thirty years of hoarding it is time for some serious decluttering.

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    1. quercuscommunity Post author

      A skilful pun return concealed in a question! I find that too many cookery book recipes use complicated ingredients, like milk or fish, where I have always found water, a few veg and a stock cube to be sufficient.

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  2. charliecountryboy

    Well done on the achievements before breakfast. I was still creaking around at that time but on my ankles, Boris Karloff has nothing on me lol.
    Think the soup sounds great as I love carrots and swede mashed as a vegetable. ๐Ÿ˜€

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