Winter Warmers

Hasn't the weather been horrendous? There's no doubting its winter here!

At least this weather is perfect for eating those hearty soups, delectable desserts and steaming hot drinks, so we thought that since we've been a bit slack with posting lately, we would share one of our favourite simple recipes for each of these categories!

Hearty red lentil and chickpea soup: this is yummy, cheap and easily modifiable

1 large onion (pref red as they are the best)

1 cup red lentils

4 cups vegetable stock (4 cups water with a few oxo cubes works fine too)

1 can of tomatoes

1 can of chickpeas or equivalent cooked

a few herbs- we use a bit of oregano and sweet basil from our garden

salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop the onion and fry over a little oil until soft.

2. Add the onion, stock, canned tomatoes and lentils to a pot and bring to the boil.

3. Reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes or until the lentils are soft.

4, Add the herbs and chickpeas and simmer for another 5 minutes.

5. Eat!

Mulled wine: simple to make and you don't need to use an expensive wine.

1/2 cup Sugar
1 1/2 cups Water
Grated rind of 1/2 Orange
6 whole Cloves
1 Cinnamon stick
1 bottle red wine

1. Put all of the ingredients apart from the wine into a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves.

2. Bring to a simmer for 10 minutes and then strain

3. Add the red wine and gently reheat but do not boil.

4. Serve hot with a sprinkling of nutmeg

Baked rice pudding- one of my favourites and a definite comfort food!

1 tsp vanilla essence
2 TB short-grain rice (or whatever you have, really- apparently it works fine with brown rice too, just not Quinoa- tried it- didn't work)
2 cups milk
2 TB sugar
1 Cinnamon stick

1. Preheat your oven to 150°C.

2. Rinse the rice and place in a baking dish along with the milk, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon stick. Stir to combine.

3. Bake for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

4. Best served warm and with a sprinkling of cinnamon on top

We have the lentil soup one probably once per week in winter as it really is a cheap meal and you can add all sorts to it for variation.

I'd love to hear what your winter warmer favourites are! Please feel free to comment below :)