First I'd like to give you a recipe for a lovely vegan soup, which is wholesome and creamy. It came to me from friend Peter McNaughton. Here it is. Thanks Pete!

Parsnip Soup

Ingredients:

Olive Oil
Onion
Garlic
Ginger
Ground Spices: Coriander, Tumeric, Cummin, Chilli
Parnsips
Apple
Water or stock.
Salt and pepper

Method: Gently sweat off the onion, add garlic, ginger and spices. Chop up Parsnips and an apple and throw it all in together and coat with spices well. Add enough water to at least cover. Cook gently til soft. Puree.

Quantities: If making for 50 use a lot of veges.....I'd never make soup just for one or two but if you were use 2 or 3 parsnips anyhow. There should always be more soup than you need, some for the stove top for unexpected guests and some for the freezer for tired weekday nights. One or two onions depending on mood. One apple - just to sweeten. It doesn't need a flavoured stock, just water, but you can use stock if you want. Season with a bit of s n p.

It should be a creamy to thick depending on how much water you added, a little sweet to taste and the spices shouldn't dominate too much.