In this weather, only soup will do. I used to make minestrone for my children as it’s very cheap to make but really filling and nutritious. If this doesn’t cheer me up, then nothing will!

To make this, you will need:

2 litres of chicken/vegetable stock (2 Tesco Value stock cubes and boiling water)
100g of spaghetti, broken into pieces,
3 carrots finely diced,
2 courgettes finely diced,
1 large onion finely chopped,
1 tin of tomatoes
Half a savoy cabbage finely chopped
four chopped potatoes
1 tin of lidl baked beans with sauce washed off - I had no canellini beans!

1. Sweat off the vegetables in two tablespoons of olive oil
2. Add the chicken stock, bring to the boil and simmer for fifteen minutes or veggies are soft.
3. Add pasta and cook for further 10 minutes
4. In last two minutes add beans.

We have this with a heaped teaspoon of Lidl pesto which we stir through just before we eat it. We don’t ‘do’ birthdays here at Frugal Towers and don’t do cards, presents or parties but we do what the flip we like! I did a day in bed followed by soup! I like this so much that I would have this for Christmas lunch if I had my way!

Until tomorrow