Spicy pumpkin soup

Making soup is easy. Making soup in a slow cooker is ridiculously easy.

It's great mid-week to put on the slow cooker in the morning and come home to a meal that's ready to go. Slow cooker soup takes up minimal time in the morning, particularly if you've chopped up everything the night before. I have also found it handy to make soup in the slow cooker overnight and then have it ready to take to work for lunch the next day. Like I said ... ridiculously easy. As a friend would say, it's a BMW meal - bear minimum work. That's not to say at all, however, that the end result isn't tasty and healthy. In fact, it's delicious!

One of my favourites is a pumpkin soup. I'll chop up an onion, a piece of pumpkin, a few carrots and, if they're in season, sometimes some parsnips. I'll add some dried cumin and coriander (and/or fresh coriander if I have it), and a little bit of chilli and ginger too. To this, I'll add some chicken or vegetable stock and enough water to just cover the ingredients and then set the slow cooker on low overnight or while I'm at work. Once it's done, I'll use a stick blender or Bamix until it is a nice consistency and that's the soup done!

Tonight, I've tried a variation using some beetroot, which seem to be in season at the moment and which look lovely, so I'll see how that goes!