Ready to try the recipes?

For Christmas I was lucky enough to receive two cookery books to add to my collection and today I had a look through them to see what new dishes I could make in the near future.
The problem with me is, I think I am already a good cook and usually look in recipe books for ideas then end up doing my own thing completely. As I have been cooking for a great many years, my mother was an excellent cook before me and I still use some of her 'unwritten' recipes as well as my own tried and tested ones. Sometimes I start out with the intentions of cooking something specific and half way through I add a bit of this and some of that and end up with a dish that is really good only to find that when I come to repeat it I can't really remember what I put into the dish in the first place!
To avoid this happening now I note down anything different that I might use so that if I want to repeat the exercise I can and I also plan to start writing my own 'sawdust and splinter' recipes into a book that I can hand on to my grand-children and anyone else that's interested. This trial and error method of cooking has a lot of pros and only one or two cons. The good thing is that I have discovered some of my best dishes this way and it's also usually a lot cheaper. On the down side, I have had a few disasters which, while edible, the food doesn't look particularly appetising and I wouldn't want to serve it to guests.
With the cold weather that we are currently having, I have made several delicious vegetable soups using my standard base and they are all much better and cheaper than the supermarkets. For a sample, how about trying my carrot and coriander soup. Easy to make and costs next to nothing.
For 3 large servings you will need:
1 medium size onion 2 sticks celery* 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 medium potato 2 pints vegetable stock (made with stock cube)
3 very large carrots 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh coriander

* (celery can be omitted but does improve the flavour of all soups. It keeps very well in the salad drawer of the fridge and I have used it up to 2 weeks later and it has still been OK)
1) Chop all the vegetables into very small cubes
2) Heat the oil in a large pan (I use a large wok with a lid) and then add all the chopped vegetables which you need to cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally
3) Add the vegetable stock and bring to simmering point then cover and cook for 20 minutes while you chop the coriander
4) Remove from heat, add the coriander and some seasoning then blend until as smooth as you like, using a hand blender, food processor or liquidiser. Serve with crusty bread.
The soup can also be frozen.
Bon appetite!