Today we had one of those days where we knew we’d be doing very little – a day to recharge our batteries and let machines make our food with minimal preparation beforehand ideally, while still remaining tasty and healthy.

I set some dough going in the breadmaker to make some ‘tear and share’ bread which was a HUGE amount when it was finished (it’ll easily last a couple of days and is gorgeously soft and tasty), but knowing I was having a bit of bread I consciously made sure my soup would be a low points one to make up for it.

So – this spicy soup is simple, easy to prepare and of course the hard work is done in the soup maker. I used…

1 butternut squash (I always think of winter with a butternut squash, so tried to make it feel summery)
one generous block of ginger chopped into blocks
two red peppers, sliced and all seeds removed

after that I just filled up the water and added three spoons of low-salt bouillon and let it happen.

Now, what should happen next is a photo of us sitting outside enjoying our bread and soup, I even did a balsamic and olive oil dip, but H decided to stick her hand in it (I put it down to three year old curiosity or something) so after a quick clean we sat and ate. They were good too – really simple and not fussy, the ginger came through nicely and I think the pepper helped.

So instead, here’s a photo of my prepped vegetables. You’ll have to take my word for the rest, though let’s face it, you’ve seen one soup you’ve seen them all – it was great for a Bank Holiday Sunday anyway. The soup comes in at 0 points too, so it meant I could stuff my face with bread and not feel too full afterwards either.