Beetroot Soup with feta

Breakfast: Coconut-avocado smoothie

Lunch: Couscous salad with one leftover spicy beanburger

Dinner: Beetroot soup with feta and bread

I know what you're thinking; it sounds awful. This is true, it does. However, I am not even a huge fan of beetroot on its own, but this soup is absolutely delicious; warming, healthy, and with the feta cheese crumbled on top, gorgeously creamy.

The key to this recipe is the tomatoes roasted with garlic and olive oil. The taste of the tomatoes offsets the potential bitterness of the beets. I also tend to add a little oregano, but only a little - I have added too much before and it becomes this mess of annoying flavours which you cannot distinguish from each other, sort of like when too many teenagers get on the bus.

You'll need
(Feeds 2)

2 medium beets, grated
1 large ripe tomato, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup veg stock
50g feta

Method:

Preheat oven to 190 degrees
Add the garlic to half the oil and drizzle it over the tomatoes on a baking tray
Roast the lot for 15 minutes
Heat the remaining oil and fry onions til soft
Add the grated beetroot and stock and bring to the boil
Simmer for 10 minutes then take off the heat
Add the tomatoes and blend
Crumble the feta on top and serve with bread

Beets are fantastic for you as they contain potassium, magnesium, vitamin C and betaine which keeps your cardio system healthy. They are also great as a hangover remedy; I used to work at a smoothie store and when anyone came in looking particularly haggard we gave them beet juice blended with apple juice (which takes the taste away - because let's face it, beet juice isn't going to be the most pleasant thing when you're hanging), honey, ginger, spirulina, banana and something else which may have been strawberries. An hour and a half later they would come back feeling nothing short of sprightly.

Beets are magical.

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