Cream of Mushroom Soup (with no need for cream!)

As well as being on a health kick at the moment, I'm trying to be more sensible with my finances. Yawn! But a change from a shop bought sandwich is refreshingly welcome! And everyone knows homemade soup is the best kind of soup. EVER. Here's one inspired by LittlePod's own Dave Buchanen. Last year he made a fantastic sweetcorn chowder for us LittlePodites, and once I'd taken out all the butter and cream, I found it hadn't lost any of it's fantastic flavours. Perfect for lunchboxes, and suprisingly filling, enjoy! x

Mushroom and Sweetcorn Soup

serves 4

1 pack organic mushrooms (your favourite/cheapest variety), roughly chopped

1 can naturally sweet sweetcorn

1 white onion, chopped

1 tsp olive oil

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 litre boiled water

1 chicken stock cube

1/2 vegetable stock cube

1 tsp LittlePod vanilla extract

generous grinding of pepper & salt

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Instructions:

In a deep saucepan, lightly fry the onion and garlic in olive oil until beautifully translucent. Next, add the pepper, salt, thyme and nutmeg. I crushed them altogether with a mortar and pestle to unleash the flavours (and my pepper grinder is broken!), then added the mushrooms. It will smell delicious right about now! If it's sticking to the pan, add a dash of water. Once the mushrooms have softened but still have a little bounce to them, add the sweetcorn, water and all. Next, add the water, stock and LittlePod vanilla essence. Leave to bubble away for about 20min, then take off the heat. Blitz with a hand held food processor, and add more seasoning if desired. If you're feeling a little bit more carnivorous, grill some smoked bacon until truly crispy, chop up and add after pureeing. 

Perfect served with a hunk of freshly made bread, but very satisfying all by itself.

I didn't take a picture of it, so here's a little product placement - try Black + Blum's range of lunchboxes! The stylish way to take your lunch to work, no need to be embarrassed by ugly tupperware! Visit them at http://www.black-blum.com/homepage/