Red Pepper, Tomato and Chilli Soup

Home-made Red Pepper, Tomato and Chilli Soup

Portion: 5 (For me anyway, I think maybe I tend to eat less when I eat soup - but there is certainly a lot of it, you can definitely tell it makes a lot - especially in a fridge that only has food for one)

Ingredients
3 Red Peppers
1 Stick of Celery
1 Red Onion
1 Red Chilli
1 tbsp Oil
1 Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
750ml Chicken Stock (or preferred stock)
Black Pepper (to season)

The nights are getting a lot colder and healthy eating is becoming more of a struggle, especially when its so tempting to just turn up the heating, light some candles and snuggle up in bed with films and treats. However, I feel soups may be the way forward, at least for myself, this winter. Soups are clearly not a recent finding, I have definitely been eating soup for as long as I can remember, I have just never bothered to try and make my own. Soup doesn't have to be out of a tin or for when you are ill, in fact it is incredibly easy and cheap to make. Soups also come in all shapes and sizes and so deciding what to have this week really just depends on what veg is on offer.

With red peppers being only 50p this week in Asda I couldn't help myself, anyone that knows me can assure you I am a sucker for a red pepper. Now I must admit, this isn't the first time I have attempted to make this particular soup - in fact a couple of years ago I just threw a lot of veg in and preceded to get chilli in my eye (NOT GOOD) and it tasted okay, but I think maybe my knowledge has grown over the last few years - this bad boy was delicious.

1) First things first, wash and chop the celery, onion, pepper and chilli.
2) Heat oil in a large saucepan and throw in the onion and celery. Let these sweat for 5-10 minutes.
3) Then add the pepper and chilli to the pan and continue to sweat for a further 10-15 minutes.
4) Add the tin of chopped tomatoes and stock to the pan and bring to the boil. Once boiling reduce the heat and leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes.
5) Take off the heat to blend, if you are using a blender wait for the mixture to cool, however I rock a hand blender so I jumped straight in.
6) Reheat soup if necessary and ladel into bowls. Add pepper (to taste) and enjoy.

Pretty healthy, filling and of course goes down a treat with a crusty bread roll.