Soup in summer!

A wonderful friend of mine, who happens to live next door to me, recently passed over the garden fence a load of courgettes of varying sizes and shapes.   Knowing that I, and I alone would be the only one that would enjoy them in our household, I decided to make what us mums call 'cover up' food; a healthy, veg packed sauce for pasta, that the kids would love and eat, and then hold their mouths open in disbelief when I announced AFTERWARDS that they had indeed just eaten a ton of veg and loved it!!
Once I had made it into a sauce/soup, my 4 year old daughter walked into the kitchen and to my amazement said 'mmmmm! that smells yummy, can I have some please', well when I had come round and picked myself up off of the floor, I gave her a taste, and she loved it! 
When tea time rolled around I gave both the kids and the hubby the choice of spag bol or soup, (incidentally, the spag bol had a good 2-3 ladles of the soup in it), my daughter chose the soup, as did the hubby, and my teenage son chose the spag bol.
Both my daughter, age 4 and my hubby said, without being blackmailed, that they loved it, and my son, well he didn't say anything, he is a teenager! but he ate the lot.
So, as you do, I skipped into the kitchen and wrote the recipe out,this is one I want to remember for sure!!
I wanted to share it with you, for a couple of reasons, 1 - it was a hit with the kids and is full of goodness and 2 - it is a recipe that I have NEVER seen before, so I think you may like to try it.... so here it is, my home made SPICY COURGETTE AND COCONUT SOUP!!!

2 x Garlic cloves chopped
2 x red onions chopped
1 x medium potato chopped
8 x courgettes chopped
1 teaspoon mint
half teaspoon chili powder
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
half teaspoon paprika
half teaspoon turmeric
half teaspoon cumin
2 x teaspoons of Marmite or 2 stock cubes
2 x tablespoons oil for frying
boiling water
6 cubes of home made coconut milk or 1 tin of bought* 
2 tablespoons of honey or sugar

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the chopped garlic and onion first, fry for a few Min's and then add the rest of the veg. Fry for a good 5 Min's or until tender then add the seasoning, herbs and spices. Stir well and pop the kettle on to boil, you will need enough water to cover the veg mix. Add the Marmite or stock cubes to the veg (not the water yet) and stir well, leave to cook for 1-2 Min's and then add the water and half of the honey or sugar. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 Min's until the veg is very soft.  Remove from the heat and with a hand blender or a liquidiser pulse the veg mix to a smooth consistency with no lumps.  Stir well and add the coconut milk.  Now taste the soup and add any further honey or seasoning to taste, you may want to add more boiling water too if you don't like your soup/sauce as thick as it is at this point.

Break up a fresh loaf of bread and enjoy with your soup, or add this soup to your favourite pasta sauce for a healthy boost.

Well I do hope you enjoy it, but more to the point I hope that your family do too and come back for seconds!!

*To make the homemade coconut milk simply buy a pack of dessicated coconut and put into a liquidiser and pulse until it turns into a liquid, yes a liquid, and it will, without adding anything else, when it is in liquid form, pour into ice cube trays and freeze, use in any recipes that use coconut milk, or to soups/sauces or curries that turn out a little too spicy for your taste buds.