I know you might think this is just a boring and bland vegetable soup, but honestly, it has so much more taste than what you get in a tin! This vegetable soup is very tasty, it is chunky and is very filling. I dont have this as a starter, it fills me up too much, i actually have it as a main meal.

The ingredients you will need are:

3 medium carrots
2 medium parsnips
3 medium leeks
1 quarter of a swede
1.5 litres of vegetable stock
100g of pearl barley
chopped parsley
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons of tomato puree

To make this soup, start by peeling and chopping all your vegetables. If you want a chunky soup dont cut your veg too small, if you dont want it too chunky, cut the veg up a bit smaller.

Once i have my veg prepared, i start by making the vegetable stock. I dont make the stock from scratch, i just use oxo vegetable stock cubes! I use 8 cubes for 1.5 litres of water.

Pour this is a medium sized pan and add the pearl barley. Simmer this whilst you are doing the next step...

Add a bit of water to a larger pan (or wine if you like- i dont do this as i dont like wine at all!) and add all the vegetables. Cook until the vegetables are slightly soft, and then add the stock and pearl barley mixture from the medium pan to the larger pan of vegetables.

Add the tomato puree, and stir in. Bring this to the boil and then simmer for about 30 minutes. Then it is ready to serve, its as easy as that!

To season you can add a pinch of salt and pepper. You can also add a pinch of chopped parsley on top for decoration!

I love to make a fresh loaf of crusty white bread in my bread maker to go with this meal. As it is so chunky, you dont feel like you havent eaten properly, it isnt like a liquid soup you get in a tin.

If you have not heard of pearl barley before, it is only 39p a bag in tesco's and it is with all the lentils etc! It is used in loads of winter soups.

If your soup is a bit runny, you can try adding a bit of rice to soak up some of the stock, which is what i do.

You could add whatever vegetables you like to this soup, i just used what i had in at the time. You could use cabbage, sweetcorn or peppers etc.

This recipe makes a huge pan of soup, so you can freeze the rest and have it another day if you like.

If you want a nice healthy meal, you couldnt get a healthier one than this! They are all fresh ingredients and you know exactly what is in the meal you are eating! You will deffinately get a few of your five a day in this chunky vegetable soup!