My weekends usually consist of at least one full day spent in my veggie garden tending to my chickens, alpacas and bees while also attempting to grow my own fruit and veggies. I’ve had success with a few crops (potatoes, garlic, zucchini, passionfruit, raspberries, rhubarb and tomatoes I’m nailing), but still haven’t perfected the stone fruit, cabbages, pears or blueberries. But life is always striving never arriving!

Once I’m in the garden, i tend to stay there… for about six hours at a time. So fuel is needed, and luckily my mum Janene often comes to help and brings with her a thermos full of steaming hot delicious and nutritious soup she made in the Thermomix that morning. It’s never something we’ve shopped for, rather a collection of ingredients pulled together from whatever’s in the fridge. I love this approach - it’s easy, it’s frugal, it’s cheap and you’re not wasting food. Oh and the soup always hits the spot! So I’ve written a Thermomix guide recipe, outlining how we do it, so you can do the same thing at home. It’s not fancy or complicated, you’re not going to see it served in Michelin star restaurants. But this is real life, and this is a recipe you’re going to cook often in real life! And your body and soul will thank you for it.

Homemade is always best, love alyce x

Serves 3

+ gluten free
+ vegetarian (optional)
+ vegan (optional)
+ dairy free (optional)

Ingredients

1 onion, peeled and halved
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tbsp flavour boost (optional)
- curry or harissa paste
20g oil
- olive, coconut, macadamia
800g roughly chopped veggies
- broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots, parsnip (or combination of)
600g liquid
- coconut milk, water, bone broth, stock (or combination of)
40g stock concentrate
- less if your liquid component contains salt
Extra flavourings (optional)
- parsley leaves, coriander leaves, spinach leaves, cheese, cream, butter, nutritional yeast flakes, alyce’s flavour bomb salt, alyce’s no-chicken chicken salt

Method

Place onion and garlic in TC bowl, chop for 5 seconds, speed 5. Scrape down sides.
Add flavour boost (if using) and oil, sauté for 5 minutes, 100°C, speed 1.
Add veggies, liquid and stock concentrate, cook for 18 minutes, 100°C, speed 2.
Add extra flavourings (if using), purée for 30 seconds, slowly increasing from speed 1 to 9.

Serve and enjoy! Or pour into a Thermos to take into the garden like mum and I do :)

If you like these Thermomix guide recipes, brilliant, ‘cause I love creating them! It really is how I cook at home most of the time… from pastas, risottos and frittatas to ice cream and green smoothies. So much so that I’ve included entire chapters on ‘thermo guides’ in my last two cookbooks ‘Fresh Favourites’ and ‘Everyday Thermo Cooking’. You can find out more about both below :)