Oh dear it really has been a while hasn't it?! I've been gone a little while and let things get a bit out of control. Not back to my old ways entirely however binge eating has featured heavily. Not good. I'm talking full on, let's get a McDonald's on the way to getting tea, having tea, then polishing off loads of chocolate and crisps etc. Secret eating at its finest. Yesterday gave me the reality check I needed...

15st 1lbs - eek!

I'm back in the 15's. What the hell?! I shouldn't be surprised but it still wasn't particularly nice to see. Conquering some food demons this evening as I'm going out for a meal with my team at work. I'm not particularly great at eating in front of people I don't know really really well. It generally ends up in me eating far less than I actually want, and then eating a shedload of food when I get home. Not anymore! I shall eat whatever the hell I like! We're going for a curry so should be good fun.

Now let's talk soup bagging. After purchasing some delightful veg boxes last week, I realised that they were still untouched. What can we make with veg? SOUP! I made a gorgeous cauliflower soup. Now I'm not sure of the exact nutritional value but it can't be that bad. The recipe is entirely made up (aren't they the best) and I can testify that it is FIT so if you fancy a bash yourself, go for it...

Ingredients

1 Onion, diced. Tears from cutting the damn thing are optional.
2 Potatoes, diced. Good old fashioned muddy ones are best.
1 Cauliflower, divided into florets. I never noticed how much a cauliflower looked like a bouquet of flowers after you've removed the leaves before now. I freely admit I walked around the kitchen clutching it as if I was at a wedding. Is that a bit weird?
1 litre stock. I haven't specified the exact stock but strictly speaking I think you should use vegetable stock. However I only had two veggie Oxo cubes so added 3 chicken ones! If you can be bothered making real stock go for it.
Any herbs/spices you may have knocking about. I couldn't really tell you exactly what went in as I'm not 100% sure now!

Method

If you've done your bit for the planet and bought fresh, proper veg, wash it. Mud is great for authenticity to prove it came from a field - not so good for taste. If you're a corporate slave, take your veg out of the packet ;)
Chop veg as necessary
Fry off your onion in some garlic olive oil (normal will do but garlic is tastier) until it's soft.
Add the potatoes and cauliflower, and fry for a further minute.
Add the stock and leave to cook for, well until the veg is soft. It's soup for goodness sake, you can't burn it right?
Allow your mushy veg to cool a bit and liquidise. If you're into chunky soup, only do 3/4 of it. If you like it smooth, do it all. Not rocket science!
You're done. If you love meat like me, why not get some bacon bits to chuck on it? If you don't love meat, what's wrong with you?!

Obviously you make more than enough for one person so the dilemma is what to do with the rest? I decided to embark on a soup bagging journey as I couldn't face a freezer full of tupperware soup, it can be quite overfacing. Now soup bagging is something that requires a lot of skill, co-ordination, patience and, as I discovered to my cost, a funnel. Ladling soup into dinky freezer bags sounds a lot easier than it actually is, especially when the cold version of your delightful creation resembles wallpaper paste. Behold the first soup bagging result...

Soup bagging at its best

I can't go without mentioning the top night I had last Friday watching The Reet Hot Chili Peppers (do I really need to tell you what they are?) at our local...hmm I've no idea what it is. A music venue? A pub? A dive? I'm really not sure! Anyways they were great as always and had a great night with my lovely mate Lizzie. OK so we're not thin but we're a damn good laugh and know how to have fun. Surely that's more important than panicking over eating a chocolate bar?