Hi 2025.
You have a high bar to reach. Not going to lie to you, 2024 gave me one of the best years of my life. I won’t list the reasons why and I certainly won’t recap it like you see in Reels on social media, but let’s just say I had a great one and I hope you did too.
But while I don’t feel the need to show you the good year I had in a highlight on social media, I tell you where it did show itself. It showed itself quite prominently.
That was on the scales.
I’m not somebody who measures my fulfilment in life by how low the scales can go, certainly not, and I’m definitely not someone who wants to pursue a life of culinary denial and punishment for all the treats I gift my body for doing so well in carrying me through the years.
However, excessive eating is not a way to reward it either.
So I need to make some changes. 2024 truly was a year of indulgence (read: roast dinners, fried sandwiches, and wine) and while a written sentence about healthy eating in 2025 may read as a grim and flavourless sentence, I am aiming to not make that the case for the healthy food I plan to eat in the new year.
So I start with soup.
I always turn to soup when I try to make better eating decisions because it sets the standard. I can make them as healthy as possibly, use up as many random ingredients I have lying around in the fridge, plus I often make more than I need for one day, which means I have set the precedent for tomorrow’s lunch or dinner.
This soup in particular came from a fridge forage post-new year when I admitted to myself, after a huge amount of deliberation, that I should not try and make a stew out of leftover Toblerone, birthday cake, and stumpy beers.
So however you’re stepping into the new year, put this soup on your list of things to make. Even if you’re not trying to squeeze yourself into old jeans like me, bottom line, it just genuinely tastes great and you’ll feel better for making it and eating it.
I hope you all had a fantastic 2024, but if it was shit, read this and hopefully look forward to a better 2025. This soup won’t cure your 2024 and it won’t promise a better 2025, but it will certainly start it on a good note.
Serves 4
2 tbs olive oil
1 leek – washed and sliced into thin coins
2 cloves garlic – roughly chopped
1 potato – peeled and cut into small chunks
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cardamom
1 courgette – chopped into small chunks
300g frozen peas
1 litre vegetable stock
1 x 400g can chickpeas -drained
A handful of spinach leaves
To serve
4 tbs natural yogurt
A handful of sesame seeds
A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
- Heat the olive oil in a pot large enough to hold the liquid, and then add the sliced leek with a little salt, cooking for about 10 minutes until it’s soft.
- Add the garlic and cook for another few minutes until it’s warm but not burning.
- Add in the potatoes and then add the coriander and cardamom, cooking for a further few minutes, stirring so that the potatoes are coated in the spices.
- Stir in the courgette, adding a pinch more salt with some pepper, and cook until the courgette is beginning to soften.
- Tip in the peas and the stock, stirring everything together. Bring this to a boil, reduce the heat and allow to gently simmer for about 35 – 40 minutes or until the potatoes can easily be crushed with the back of your spoon against the side of the pot.
- Remove from the heat and careful blend using a stick blender until the soup is smooth.
- Return the pan back to the heat, carefully taste for seasoning adding more salt and pepper as you wish, and then stir through the chickpeas and spinach, cooking for a further 7 – 10 minutes until the chickpeas are piping hot.
- Spoon the soup into bowls and serve with a swirl of yogurt, a scattering of sesame seeds, and a drizzle of oil.
MIKEY AND THE KITCHEN. 