Bacon, Cabbage and Potato Soup

Dig into a bowl of this delicious healthy Bacon, Cabbage and Potato Soup with simple ingredients but full on flavour.

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How could I not create a soup that brings me back to my childhood?

For those of you that have seen my name, some have probably already worked out that there is some Irish in their somewhere and for those that have been pronouncing my name as She O Ban, you have it all wrong, because the correct pronunciation for my very Irish name - Siobhan is actually Shiv Awn.

The amount of times I've been called She 0 Ban is really outstanding. Luckily I don't take any offence and find it rather amusing. I kind of set it as a game now, especially when ordering coffee at Starbucks and they ask me for my name. I get such a chuckle at seeing how wrong they write it on the cup, occasionally I can get the odd surprise when they actually can spell and pronounce it correctly, which then often leads into a discussion of how they knew the name. Usually, it's a friend they went to university with, or a member of their family is Irish. It's a great conversation starter that's for sure.

The Irish side actually comes from my mum, and she was a pure home cooked food kind of person. Stews, cottage pie, spaghetti bolognese, soups etc. She also made her own cakes all from scratch and never ever measured or weighed anything. She could make the most delicious cakes and it all by just looking at how much she had tossed into the bowl. In fact, I don't think my mum ever even owned any kitchen scales. I don't ever remember seeing any.

The Victoria Sponge cakes she made were amazing. Truly the best cake ever and I now when making cakes myself, especially for the kids birthday, I always tend to make the same. We as a family love our jam and cream filling on a cake. Not exactly Slimming World friendly, but for birthdays it's a special occasion, right?

Often on Slimming Eats a recipe idea will pop into my head, based on all the food I used to love as a child, but I'll add my own kind of twist to it. One of the regular meals my mum would make is a big huge pot of bacon and cabbage, that would simmer on the stove for hours. For most people, it probably sounds not very nice and all, but it really was comforting with a nice big spoonful of creamy buttery mashed potatoes.

Recently when looking for inspiration for a new soup to make, that very meal popped into my head. But I wanted it all in one dish, the lovely flavours of the cabbage and bacon, with the creaminess of those mashed potatoes. So Bacon, Cabbage and Potato Soup, just seemed perfect!!

When chopping up the Yukon gold potatoes, to add to the pot, I couldn't help but grab a sweet potato and throw that in two. Most Irish would not be too impressed with a sweet potato added into a very Irish dish, but I often do thing out of the normal, and I think it adds amazing flavour to this soup.

For the creaminess to this Bacon, Cabbage and Potato Soup, I use milk and a little cornstarch. Of course, milk can be used as your Healthy Extra A, but as a serving of this soup is less than your daily allowance, I figured it was easier to just syn it, as it is still low in syns and will save up your Healthy Extra A to use elsewhere in the day.

I recommend using a thick cut of ham or bacon for this, I bought a piece of unsliced peameal bacon, and removed all visible fat and sliced it myself, it was perfect for this soup.

This soup also freezes fine, so is perfect for those batch cooking days, if you want to get some meals cooked up in advance.

Why not make a pot of this Bacon, Cabbage and Potato Soup today, and you will have a hearty filling meal for the next few days, that you can just heat up as you want.

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Looking for some more soup recipes to try? Perfect meals in a bowl for this time of year. Then check out these below:

• Syn Free Loaded Baked Potato Soup
• Syn Free Turkey Taco Soup
• Spicy Roasted Parsnip and Sweet Potato Soup
• Vegetable and Pearl Barley Soup
• Chicken Butternut Squash Coconut Curry Soup
• Chicken, Bean and Rice Soup
• Syn Free Chicken and Vegetable Soup
• Syn Free Split Pea and Bacon Soup
• Syn Free Spicy Sweet Potato, Red Pepper and Carrot Soup

and if that’s not enough to choose from, don’t forget my FULL RECIPE INDEX with over 500+ delicious Slimming World Recipes.

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Usually, I would recommend another recipe to serve on the side, but this Bacon, Cabbage and Potato Soup, is truly a complete meal just as it is. The one and only thing I would recommend if you like bread is this delicious Gluten-Free Soda Bread - not a true soda bread as it's made with oats, but it tastes amazing.

What Kitchen Items do I need to make this Bacon, Cabbage and Potato Soup

• • Deep Saucepan
  • Kitchen Scales
  • Measuring Cups
  • Measuring Spoons
  • Wooden Spoon
  • Santoku Knife (perfect knife for chopping veg)
  • Chopping Board
  • Vegetable Peeler