A Winter Warmer - Tomato & Kale Soup Recipe

Good morning guys! So this past couple of weeks I've been trying out a few new recipes and batch cooking for the weeks ahead, you all know I love a bit of batch cooking. Nothing beats knowing all your food in taken care of for the week and all that is required on your part is grabbing the container out the freezer/fridge and popping it on the hob or in the microwave. Although a lot of effort is required initially, once the hard work is done - minimal effort is required and you can pretty much chow down in 10 minutes.

So I actually made two soups this weekend. I actually cooked up the Protein Power Soup - a recipe that the lovely Essie Button shared on her Youtube channel. I had been dying to make this since seeing the video a month or so ago but just hadn't got round to making it so this weekend I decided just to go ahead and make it. The verdict? It's amazing! It's full of so much goodness and if perfect for them cold winter evenings when all you want is good wholesome food. The recipe by Estee doesn't actually state to do this but I actually blended mine up just to make it easier to distribute into containers and to consume, this works a treat. Nothing beats a thick soup with a hunk of bread!

Now the second soup is actually the one you're here for, yep that's right - as the title suggests its Tomato & Kale Soup. Now I first tried this soup at Giraffe as a starter and both Kyle & I were honestly blown away, I mean I love a good homemade Tomato & Basil Soup as it is but never once thought of adding Kale to the mix, honestly it was genius. I actually went so far as to say 'this is the nicest soup I've ever had', I know, big statement right? So after my visit to Giraffe this Soup got all forgotten about until the other day when I had a light bulb moment and thought I need to make this Soup! So I of course took to the internet for advice and managed to cook up this recipe for you all. I hope you enjoy it just as much as I do. It's honestly makes such a yummy lunch and it's so healthy, I mean you all must have heard the huge hype surrounding the superfood Kale lately and this recipe contains a whole bag of the stuff!

Read to take notes? Okay let's do this...

Ingredients
1 tablespoon Coconut Oil
1/2 a diced Onion
1/2 Diced Carrot
3 Garlic Cloves - Minced
4 cups of Vegetable Stock
1 Can Crushed/Chopped Tomatoes
18 Cherry Tomatoes (mashed)
1 Bag of Kale (around 12 cups of)
1/2 teaspoon Oegano
1/2 teaspoon Basil
Pink Himalayan Salt & Cracked Pepper to season

The Method
1. Throw your Carrot, Onions & Garlic into a pan with your Coconut oil and Saute on a low heat for about 5-8 minutes
2. Add Vegetable Stock to a large pan and add the Mashed Cherry Tomatoes, the Kale & the Chopped Tomatoes.
3. Add the seasoning and herbs.
4. Throw in your Saute'd Vegetables.
5. Leave the soup to simmer for around 20 minutes.
6. Chuck everything into a blender to smooth it all out.

You can either store the soup in the fridge for the week or freeze portions for when you want to fill your belly with something super healthy and refreshing during these cold winter months!