Instant Pot Easy Vegetable Soup Recipe

This is a soup recipe that I adapt, and mostly cook in a large pan, but now the electric pressure cooker has made an appearance in my kitchen, the very least it can do is to somehow pay for it's keep.  I store it away in a cupboard - the pressure cooker that is - I had to empty my cupboard of baking tins and move them to a cupboard which is already heaving with baking paraphernalia, there is absolutely no room on my work surface for any more gadgets.

Anyway back to the soup, it's ridiculously easy to make and can be bulked out with borlotti beans and small pieces of broken spaghetti to give a more filling version of a family friendly minestrone.

Chopped parsley added to the soup after cooking lifts the flavours, and a grating of Parmesan cheese is perfect.

Mini Chocolate Raspberry Cakes

These little cakes came about because I made a chocolate cake and one of the layers didn't rise as much as I would have liked due to a heavy hand when adding the cocoa powder! I use Green and Black's cocoa powder and it's a must for these little choccie cakes.

It's a wasteful method but I cut out tiny rounds to make these little cakes and the leftover sponge cake is the cooks treat!

The filling is simply seedless raspberry jam and a few fresh raspberries crushed . I served my little cakes with vanilla ice cream.