When I first opened my B&B I used to offer 3 course evening meals. 

They were surprisingly popular with my guests, but took up a huge amount of my time and didn't really make me any money. I was spending 5 hours in the kitchen, serving and clearing up most evenings.

I refocussed back on my WHY for running for B&B. For me, it was all about having more time with my family and living in a beautiful part of the world. And decided to stop the evening meals.

Since then I've offered in room platters, which means guests can relax and not have to go out to eat, and I get to enjoy time with my family in the evening.

A B&B friend of mine has another solution, providing an electric soup tureen for guests. They can come and help themselves to soup, cheese scones and homemade bread.

This recipe would be perfect if you decided to offer something similar to your guests. It has the advantage of being vegan and gluten free ( check your stock is gluten free ).

Pumpkin and Tomato Soup

I’m not a huge fan of courgettes, pumpkins etc in their natural state but I do like them when they’re combined with tomatoes in a soup. Tomato soup can be a bit thin and acidic when it’s just made with tomatoes, but by adding a pumpkin or courgette it mellows and thickens the soup.

This is probably the easiest soup in the world. And it’s very low calorie. I calculated about 70 calories per bowl, assuming you’ve got 4 bowls out of this recipe.

I make it with tinned tomatoes but you could use fresh if you have a glut.

If I have a large pumpkin, I’ll chop all the flesh up and portion it into 200g bags and just pop them in the freezer. You can then make more soup later on with the pumpkin straight from the freezer.

This also works well with courgettes and marrows.

Add 1/2 tsp dried red chilli flakes if you like a bit of heat!

PUMPKIN TOMATO SOUP INGREDIENTS

• 200g roughly chopped pumpkin
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves if you like
• 1 tablespoon sundried tomato paste
• 400g chopped tomatoes
• 1 litre of vegetable stock ( I use Marigold bouillon but I’ve also just used water with salt added when I’ve run our of stock )
• black pepper to taste

METHOD

Put all the ingredients in a large pan. Bring to the bowl, then simmer over a low heat for 45 minutes. Puree with a stick blender. Check seasoning.

If you like you can serve with creme fraiche or soured cream and toasted pumpkin seeds.

Serves 4