Borlotti bean, bacon and vegetable soup

It's soup season.  I've called it.  Over the past few weeks I've been grabbing a pack of soup from the freezer and heating it up at work.  It's like a warming cuddle in my day.  Not that I often get bored of tomato and pesto soup, but a bit of variety is good and although this contains bacon, it also contains a lot of lovely fibre.

Borlotti bean, bacon and vegetable soup - Makes 5 adult or 10 child portions

Ingredients

350g Bacon
2 Small onions
2 Cloves of garlic
150g Swede (rutabaga) - peeled weight
200g Carrot
1 litre, 1 3/4 pints Water
240g Drained tinned borlotti (rosecoco beans)
A few sprigs of fresh thyme

Method

Chop up the bacon and dry fry in a sauce pan adding in chopped onions and garlic.  In the meantime peel and chop the swede, remove the tips and tops of the carrots and chop.  Once the onion has softened add the carrot and swede.

Boil the kettle then add 1 litre of water to the pan.  Bring to the boil and simmer with a lid on for 15 minutes or until the carrot is soft.

Drain the beans and add to the pan with the thyme.  Once all heated through, blend in a blender and serve with more thyme sprinkled on top if liked.  My little man ate all of his portion and the leftovers reheat well too.

Make it Thrifty:

Look out for packs of bacon offcuts, they're great for making soups like this from because you blend it later.  Also don't bother peeling carrots for soup, just give them a wash under a tap and take the ends off, that way you prevent waste.  By putting a lid on a saucepan when simmering, you can turn the heat right down and save money on gas or electricity.

Fresh thyme is easy to grow yourself but keep an eye out for 'growing thyme' packs in supermarkets.  They often have best before dates on and 'reduced for quick sale' packs once given some water at home last for way longer than the date on the pack.  Also although they don't always survive, I've had some success planting them out in the garden too.