There's nothing like homemade soup for a weekend lunch in the depths of winter.

You may not be sure about eating lentils, but don't be put off by that. Lentils are very good for you and the combination of flavours makes the soup very tasty! Not only that, but it's filling and because it's mostly vegetables, it's very cheap to make as well. If you're looking to lose weight this is a good recipe to try as protein - in this case, the bacon - makes you feel fuller and having soup rather than a main meal also helps.

Also, unlike many other lentil and bacon soup recipes, there are no tomatoes in this, making it a winner if you're not keen on them! It's quite a good recipe for using up vegetables which are a bit past their best and lentils keep for ages.

Ingredients

• Just over 1 litre (about 2 pints) of vegetable stock
• 200g (7 ounces) split red lentils (washed)
• 4 rashers of back bacon (cut into pieces)
• 1 sweet potato (peeled and cut into small chunks)
• 2 carrots (peeled and sliced)
• 1 onion (chopped)
• 2 cloves of garlic (peeled and cut into small pieces using a knife or crushed in a garlic press)
• Fresh rosemary (chopped into small pieces - all the leaves from a twig about as long as your finger should be enough)
• 3/4 teaspoon of cumin seeds - optional but recommended!

Serves 4-6.

Method

1. If you are going to use fresh stock, make it first.
2. Heat some cooking oil or butter in a large pan and fry the onions on a medium heat.
3. After about 5 minutes, add the bacon pieces. Keep stirring.
4. Wait until the bacon is nearly cooked then add the garlic.
5. Meanwhile, if using stock from powder, boil the water for it. When the bacon, garlic and onions are cooked, add the stock and the lentils.
6. Add the sweet potato and the carrot slices.
7. Put the chopped rosemary into the soup. Set a timer for about 35 minutes, cover the soup pot with a lid then leave to simmer. Go and do something useful while you wait, but remember to check on the soup once or twice while it's simmering and add more boiling water if there doesn't seem to be enough liquid.
8. After the 35 minutes is up, test the vegetable chunks with a sharp knife. They should be soft. If they are ready, add the cumin seeds and mix well.
9. Using a hand blender, blend the soup until all the chunks are gone and the soup is the desired consistency. It will be quite thick so you may need to add more water if the soup is too thick for your taste.

Reheat the soup a little if you want to eat it immediately. If not it will keep in the fridge for a few days and can also be frozen. That means if you have enough ingredients to make double you can keep some in the freezer for when you can't be bothered to cook! Just make sure you follow the usual food hygiene rules for freezing and defrosting.

If you have a decent-sized portion the soup will fill you up for a good while on it's own but it's best to eat with bread, preferably fresh!

Enjoy!