Roasted pepper and tomato soup with rosemary

I made this soup because I had lots of fresh rosemary to use and wanted something wholesome and comforting. It was made with green peppers, because that's all I had in, but I am sure it would be even tastier if red ones were used instead. The quantities below would serve 3-4 people as a starter.

Ingredients:

Vegetables when roasted, and garlic cloves de-skinned

For roasting
1 large onion
1tsp fennel seeds, crushed
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
olive oil
3 garlic cloves (in their skins)
2 green peppers
3 sprigs rosemary


To finish
salt and pepper to taste
1 tin tomatoes
1/2 cup fake bacon bits, rehydrated in one cup of water


Method:

1. Combine all of the ingredients 'for roasting' in a large oven tray and roast at 200 degrees celcius for about 15-20 minutes.

2. Let the vegetables cool slightly, and when the garlic cloves are cool enough to handle, peel them from their skins and pull the rosemary leaves off the stalks (discard the stalks).

3. When sufficiently cooled, whack the whole lot in a food processor, together with the fake bacon pieces and most of the water they are sitting in. Blend well. Add in the tomatoes and the remaining 'bacon' water and blend again until smooth.

4. Transfer the soup to a pan and heat through on the hob. You will probably want to add additional water (between 1-3 cups, depending on your preference) to achieve the deisred consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve with chunky bread.

Cheese and rosemary savoury seeded cupcakes

These savoury cakes are a brilliant lunchbox treat. This recipe makes about ten cakes, but they can be successfully frozen, so it's worth multiplying the mixture and preparing a mammoth batch.

Ingredients:

3oz Stork

2 eggs (beaten)

2oz self raising flour

3oz mature cheddar, grated

1 sprig rosemary (blanched and finely chopped)

splash milk

spoonful mixed seeds (about 25g) - pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, sunflower seeds etc

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

1. Cream the Stork until light and fluffy, then gradually stir in the eggs.

2. Stir in the flour and the cheese, and mix in well.

3. Add in the chopped rosemary, seeds and splash of milk.

4. Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases and bak in the oven for about 15-20mins at 180degrees celsius. Don't worry if the mixture bubbles or looks strange whilst baking.

5. When cooked, leave to cool on a wire rack covered in two layers of kitchen roll. This will help to absorb some of the fat from the cheese.