AMAZING RECIPE ALERT!!

As Autumn gets settled in and the weather has become crisper in the mornings and evenings, my attention has turned away from fresh, vibrant salads and onto more humble and heart-warming fair. I stumbled across a zucchini soup that I thought would ease me gently into the full swing of slow cooking, and after catching up on one of my new favourite foodie shows, Ottolenghi's Meditteranean, I felt inspired to jump into the kitchen and knock up a batch. My oh my, this soup is sooo delicious I had to share it straight away! Not only that, but it's super quick and easy, even for Tuesday night cooking and very inexpensive to make. Now I call that winning! And I got to use some mint from my balcony garden, which made this even more exciting.

I made a few changes based on what I like so I'm sharing my version of the recipe here.

Zucchini Soup with Mint, Harissa and Lemon - Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 tbs olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1-2 tsp Harissa paste
1kg zucchini, diced
700ml hot chicken stock
Mint leaves, to serve
Lemon wedges, to serve
Greek yoghurt, to serve

Method:
1) Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and Harissa paste and cool, stirring occasionally, for 5-6 mins until soft. Add the zucchini and cook for 2-3mins until bright green.
2) Add the hot stock, turn heat up the high and bring to the boil. Return heat down to medium and simmer for 5-6mins until zucchini is soft.
3) Season with salt and pepper and blend with a stick blender until smooth. Check season and adjust to taste.
4) Serve soup with a dollop of Greek yoghurt, a drizzle of olive oil, mint leaves and a lemon wedge. If you like it spicy, you can stir through some Harissa into the yoghurt before adding to the soup for an extra kick!

The lemon and mint really make this so don't skimp on them!

Herb Garden - take 1

At the moment I am working part time whilst looking for a full time job. This week has felt super productive, I have applied for 5 jobs so cross your fingers for me!

I also decided it was time to properly start a balcony herb garden. I say properly as previous attempts haven't had the commitment and I've ended up with a dried herb garden instead! So on Sunday we went to Bunnings and picked up some mint, sweet basil and flat leaf parsley, a trowel, gloves and potting mix. Yesterday was a brilliant day, 25° and sunny, so I took advantage of the opportunity to plant the herbs. Now when I walk past my balcony I feel a great sense of pleasure seeing my green babies up there soaking in the sun! I can't wait to start using them. I am thinking coriander, chives an chilli will be next.

Any tips?