120 calories per portion!! Yes. Soup with real flavour.

This has to be the easiest soup we have ever attempted.  We've just made over one whole litre of curried parsnip soup and blended it.  It is thick, creamy and very very moreish.  The parsnips cost 58p - last of the big spenders.  It was simplicity itself and took no effort at all.  I used just a small teaspoon of curry powder, and I feel that's enough for us - but it will all depend on what curry powder you use.  It's best to put less in to start with.

We are both very pleasantly surprised at the result.  The milk and water/stock was perfect ie 1 part milk to 2 parts water/stock.  It has blended perfectly, and tastes very very creamy.  I may add a bit more water to it tomorrow.  For us that's a bonus, we didn't need to use cream as some recipes suggest, and our weight loss will be quicker.  I think the soup will be well served with some toast - something crunchy to balance out the creamy texture, maybe croutons if you fancy. 

A ready made soup would set you back at least £3 for this amount of soup, whereas our homemade version is way under £1.  At 480 calories for the batch which makes 4 good portions - that's a very tasty 120 calories per portion, however, eat half of it (if you can) and that's 240 calories of low fat, nutritious warmth.

Because it was so low in calories, we added this topping to give it some texture.  Using fried onion and bacon, then a swirl of cream for good measure.  For two people I used half a red onion, thinly sliced, one very large shallot and one slice of bacon cut into very small pieces.  The topping might bring the whole dish to around 200 calories.  Simply fry the ingredients until crisp and sprinkle on the soup.