The Lismore App reader Ellen Kronen has been making soup.

"With the weather getting cooler (and having time to cook) I've been making lots of pumpkin soup - the ultimate comfort food," Ellen said.

"This recipe I think came from a Women's Weekly cookbook about 20 years ago but it's morphed quite a bit since then!

"It's pretty free-form and really easy to cook.

"This will easily serve six people for dinner or more for lunches."

Ingredients

• Half a largish pumpkin (you'll need around 2kg peeled)

• A couple of carrots

• A couple of spuds

• 1 leek (or onion)

• A couple of sticks of celery if you like it

• 2 vege stock cubes

• 2 chicken stock cubes

• As much garlic as you like

• 3 cups of water

• 3/4-1 cup of cream or milk (you could omit this if dairy is an issue - it's just a more intense flavour. You may want to add more water instead - maybe half a cup)

• Sour cream (optional)

• Parsley, coriander, or whatever herbs you want

• Salt & pepper

• Bacon or pancetta (optional)

• Toast/pitta bread/turkish/garlic bread if you choose. 

Method

• Chop and cook the leek in a bit of oil. Add the garlic. 

• Mush up the stock cubes in 3 cups of the water. and add to pot.

• Chop up and add other veges. 

• Bring to a vigorous simmer and cook until veges soft.

• Whizz it up with a stick blender (you can leave it in the saucepan).

• Add cream or milk to suit - we like a thicker soup, so I add less, but this is entirely up to you! You could also add extra water if you prefer a thinner soup.

To serve (and these are all optional but this is how we have it)

• Salt and pepper to taste (the stock is quite salty so pepper may be all that's needed)

• Chopped, cooked bacon/pancetta (as much as you want or none at all)

• A spoonful of sour cream

• Lots of parsley and/or coriander

• Garlic toasted pitta bread

This will keep in the fridge for a couple of days, or you can freeze it (without the toppings) for a month or so.