Heaty winter vegetarian soup

One of the best things to eat during the cold winter months is a lovely bowl of homemade soup.

A great health boost is to have barley in that soup but many of us aren't a fan of broth, so how do we get the hearty grain into a soup we enjoy.

The answer is simpler than you might think. Make a tasty soup of your choice (I love fennel, celery, onion and potato, mixed with stock and blitzed together. While it was cooking, I had the barley bioling away. Once its ready, add to the blitzed soup and you have a healthy, hearty winter warmer.

You can do this with any soup you like but liquidise before adding the barley. Barley is good for lowering cholesterol, high blood pressure, balancing sugar levels and a whole host of other health issues. It really is a super grain.

For a birthday treat last week, I was taken out to a hotel in mid Argyll - the Kilmartin Hotel. I and my family had a lovely meal there, with reasonably priced dishes and the main I had, Chicken with garlic butter and lemon was simply wonderful and packed with flavour. I can happily recommend this place for a decent meal.

On another note, I have written 3 books. 2 are part of a series set in Scoltand about the Sidhe, fairy folk. Available on kindle and in paperback:

The Island of the Mist is book 2

The Stone in the Sword is book 1

The 3rd book is an adult, sexy witchy werewolf/vampire story set in New York and featuring a strong female lead character, again available in kindle and paperback formats:

The Wolf, the Witch and the Coffin