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Green Vegetable Soup

This soup serves  4-6 grown ups and it's suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons of oil
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and grated
• 1 leek, washed and chopped
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• Leaves from 3 sprigs of thyme
• 500g broccoli, chopped
• ¼ cabbage, chopped or torn into pieces
• 1 litre vegetable stock (with 2 stock cubes)
• 400g can cannellini beans
• 100g spaghetti, broken into 3cm pieces

Method 

1. Heat the oil in a large pan.
2. Fry the leeks for about 5 minutes until they’re softened.
3. Stir in the garlic, herbs and broccoli and fry for another minute.
4. Carefully pour in the stock and add the beans and spaghetti, stir.
5. Cover the pan and simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Add the cabbage.
7. Simmer for 5 more minutes.
8. Serve in bowls and add a handful of grated cheese. Enjoy with toast or crusty bread.

Nutrition, re-heating and swaps!

This soup will keep in the fridge for a day or two and can be reheated on the hob or in the microwave.  You will probably need to add extra water as the spaghetti will have absorbed much of the original stock. 

It is low in fat, low in salt, cheap to make (around 35p a portion) and contains 3 of your 5 a day. It contains protein in the form of cannellini beans.  For more protein, try wholemeal spaghetti and serve with grated cheese. 

If you don’t have exactly what is in the recipe try these ‘Swaps’: 

• 1 chopped onion and 2 sliced sticks celery instead of leeks 
• Frozen peas or frozen French beans instead of cabbage 
• Spinach instead of cabbage. 
• Chicken stock instead of vegetable stock 
• Using another kind of tinned bean, like kidney beans, haricot beans or borlotti beans.   
• If you have some leftover meat (from a roast for example), you could shred 2 or 3 handfuls and add with the beans and spaghetti. 
• A tablespoon of pesto at the end, instead of the other herbs.

Download a PDF of the recipe