A Friday Flower, Soup & Mum ♥

Yesterday was a challenging day, to say the least... I'm not going to go into the gory details... all I will say is that it involved birds in the bathroom, lots of feathers, other unmentionables... and poop... lots of it...
Anyhoo, my intention was to take a picture of the mums in my garden for today's Friday Flower (that'd be the flower and not actual human mums) ... to say I am overrun with these flowers is an understatement... I dig them up, move them around the garden, and they survive it all... their resilience is like that of a weed... Anyways, my plan was scuppered by the fact that the northeast is being battered by wind and rain today...

Looking out at the dreary weather, my mind turned to fall once more... that loveliness of feeling warm and cozy inside, locked away from the elements... when I think cozy, I think food... when I think warm cozy food, I think soup!! And so, I figured I would also share a soup recipe with you, as well as the usual Friday Flower... a two-for-the-price-of-one deal!

My family loves beans in any shape or form, so I always have a cupboard full... my mum always says, 'if you have an onion, celery, and carrots in, you can always whip up a soup"... check, check check... all in, so I got cooking and made a chickpea and bacon soup...

Then, all I had to do was nip to the supermarket to pick up a bunch of flowers... in doing so, I found that, even though it looked like a chilly autumn day, in fact it was muggy... warm... humid ... and hardly soup weather... but we ate it anyway, and it was delicious... I've popped the recipe at the end of the blog, if you're so inclined!

Anyways, back to the Friday Flower... It's a mum... given this, I dedicate it to my Mum... (though being technologically challenged, I doubt she'll get to read this any time soon)... In fact, I dedicate this Friday Flower to all Mums, for all the challenges we overcome every day!

I'll be linking with the lovely Melissa... I'm sure you've all read her blog... if not, you're missing out!
Have a great weekend and I'll catch you next week!
Lx

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Chickpea & Bacon Soup

Ingredients

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 sticks of celery diced

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

4 teaspoons of chopped rosemary

2 chicken stock cubes, made up to 2 ½ cups of stock

3 cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

4 rashers of bacon snipped into small pieces

100 ml of light cream (optional)

Method

1.   In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over a medium heat and add the bacon pieces. Fry the bacon until crispy and then, using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a side plate (I pop it on top of a paper towel). Leave the pan on the heat.

2.   Add the onion and carrots to the pan and cook for 4 minutes. Then add the celery and cook for a further 4 minutes.

3.   Crush the two cloves of garlic and add to the pan, with the rosemary. Cook for a further 2 minutes.

4.   Add two-thirds of the chickpeas, all of the stock and plenty of seasoning. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer briskly for 8 minutes or until carrots have softened…

5.   Blend the soup until smooth, and then stir in the rest of the chickpeas and the cream. Season to taste and warm through for 1-2 minutes.

6.   Ladle the soup into warm bowls and top with the reserved bacon bits. Serve with some nice crusty bread…

If you want to try something a little different, substitute the bacon for chorizo sausage!