Soup For All Seasons by Fiona Lowe

Down here in southern Australia, we've just had record breaking rain and flooding, and the weather has been cold and dismal. It's soup weather!  


Now I realise many of you who are reading this blog are heading into summer and the thought of hot soup is more than you can bear, so to cover all bases, I'm sharing two of my favourite recipes, one for each hemisphere!  But before I do that I want to let you into my secret of great soup when you don't have time to cook.

You take either a can of pumpkin soup or tomato soup, add a can of milk, fresh black pepper and a teaspoon of curry powder. Mix together, microwave, throw some freshly chopped herbs on top and Voila! You have soup that tastes home-made. I have had people ask me for the recipe!

Talking recipes, I'll kick off with A Summer soup.  Cold Plum Soup! This is sensational to have as an appetizer for a summer lunch. Down here, I often serve it as party of Christmas lunch...the color is perfect!  I always use fresh plums but I believe my NA friends can buy plums in a can so you're all set if you or your neighbours don't have fruit trees.

1      can    purple plums -- 1-lb. 13-oz.

1     cup        water

 2/3  cup           sugar

1                    cinnamon stick

 1/4  teaspoon      white pepper

1      pinch         salt

1      cup           sour cream

 1/2  cup           heavy cream

1/2  cup           dry red wine

1      tablespoon    cornstarch

 2      tablespoons   lemon juice

1      teaspoon      grated lemon rind

3      tablespoons   brandy

 Pit and chop plums, combine with syrup in a saucepan.  Add water, sugar,

 cinnamon, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer 5 minutes

 stirring occasionally.  Mix wine and heavy cream with cornstarch, add to

 mixture and cook until thickened.  Stir in lemon juice, rind and wine, remove

 from heat.  Place 1/2 cup soup in small bowl, whisk in sour cream.  Add

 brandy and stir mix back into the soup pan until smooth.  Chill at least 4

 hours.  Serve in cups, garnish with dollops of sour cream and sprinkle with

 cinnamon. 

All I can say is YUMMO!

Now for a Winter soup, Pea & Ham soup  which I have cooking in my slow cooker as I type!

A 500gm or 1lb bag of yellow split peas soaked over night or boiled for 40 minutes.

Rinse and dump into the crock pot. Throw in an onion, carrot, 2 bay leaves,  peppercorns, potato, and the Christmas Ham bone or ham hocks from the market. Cover in water. Put on low for 12-24 hours. Remove the bones which are now clean of meat and the bay leaves. Whiz until smooth.

Serve with crusty bread. It is the complete food for lunch after Saturday sport when everyone is cold and hungry!

I hope you enjoy these recipes!




Fiona Lowe is an award-winning, multi-published author with Harlequin and Carina Press. Whether her books are set in outback Australia or in the mid-west of the USA, they feature small towns with big hearts, and warm, likeable characters that make you fall in love. When she's not writing stories, she's a weekend wife, mother of two 'ginger' teenage boys, guardian of 80 rose bushes and often found collapsed on the couch with wine. 


A current RITA & RuBY nominee, you can find her at her website, facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

Boomerang Bride is available now from Carina Press, Amazon Kindle, Nook and all other online book stores. It will be on shelf in Australia on July 1^st 2012

Letting Go With Dr Rodriguez is available now from Mills and Boon UK and will be out at Harlequin.com on July 1^st. Tom’s Redemption is out in Australia. All her books can be purchased from  The Book Depository and iBooks,