Goodness Food

Working on my Goodness Food today.  I don't get anywhere near the recommended amount of vits and minerals that I need to stay healthy.  This is partly due to my chaotic work schedule and a complete and utter aversion to fruit.  So every now and then I have a minor freak out where I get loads of fruit and veg and pulses and fish from the supermarket and compile a list of really healthy lunches and teas that I'm going to make over the coming week.  Most of which shamefully end up rotting away in the fruit bowl or the salad drawer while I revert to existing on my current diet of Go Ahead bars, oversized sandwiches from the work cafe and tinned G&T's.  BUT!  Now and again those poor, sad tins of kidney beans and packs of celery do make it into a healthy meal of some kind, mostly when I'm feeling really run down (like I am at the moment) and overweight (ditto). 

Today's stab at health glory is Aubergine and Butter Bean soup, a recipe I found in 'A Soup for Every Day' from the New Covent Garden Food Co. people.  The book actually contains 365 recipes, hence the title.  How they came up with that many recipes for soup I'll never know although some of them do seem to push the boundaries of what consitutes a nice soup recipe (Mango, Orange and Ginger soup anyone? No).  I chose the Aubergine and Butter Bean as there didn't seem to be too many expensive or offensive ingredients, and I've never tried cooking with aubergines before (for shame).  It was a bit fiddly to make (skinning aubergines and tomatoes? No), but I actually enjoyed making something that was a little bit more involved then stabbing film and placing the container in a microwave.  It's quite a sweet soup; one of the ingredients is 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon which I love but was a bit dubious about thowing it into a savoury dish.  While it was cooking I was actually reminded of the smell of crispy duck despite there being no meat in the dish.  All in all it was pretty tasty although true to form, we did eat it with hanks of crusty bread and butter.  Although I figure that as long as I'm putting the good stuff into my body as well as the bad stuff, well they should cancel each other out really shouldn't they......? ;)

p.s. I couldn't resist taking this pic of the aubergines.  Look how glossy and lovely they are!  I came over quite Nigella-ish when I saw them.