I haven’t always been a huge soup lover but this year I have been trying out lots of soup recipes and I have realised how comforting it is. I saw a few people on Instagram making butternut squash soup with chorizo and I was really excited to try it as those are two of my favourite flavours. I looked in the fridge and saw I had a jar of sun-dried tomatoes and a jar of roasted red peppers so I added that into the soup too along with some smoked paprika. I fried off some chorizo and added some into the soup then I kept some aside to sprinkle on the top. my brother had it for tea and said it was the best soup ever and wants me to make it again so that made me really happy. I have a soup maker from Cuisinart and it cooks and stirs and puree everything in one pot so it has made making soup so easy.  I feel like I need to mention the American election as so many of my American friends are sad/scared  about the results, I was when I woke up and heard the news, but I think its done now and its too late to change anything about it, and everyone just wants move on and start showing people that they are loved no matter who they are. so instead of talking about the negative I think we need to all focus on the positive things that can come from it and the first one is everyone coming together. I have seen some horrible things since the election on social media, things I did not think were said any more like racial hate and discrimination and I have also seen some really heart warming things so i think there is hope. also I think that the fact that a woman was even that close to being an American president is a great accomplishment in its self. we have a female prime minister here in the uk for the second time and it feels quite normal so I’m sure it wont be many years until America has one (maybe Michele Obama will run?). it has been so empowering to see so many woman come together to support each other, there is some real girl powder happening in the world right now in the aftermath of this so that is great. I really want to keep this space a positive one and not get involved in things I don’t properly understand or that does not directly affect me so that’s all I will say about it. I’m ashamed to admit that most of my knowledge of American elections comes from watching scandal. any way sorry for that I just felt like I needed to address and not pretend that everything is all happy and glittery in the world at the minute. so back to the soup. what is your go to flavour combination or recipe? I want to try a cheddar one next or a lentil one.

recipe

• half a chorizo sausage finely chopped
• 500g of butter nut squash
• 2 roasted red peppers
• 5 sun dried tomatoes
• 1 red onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 litre chicken stock
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar