About Me

We moved out to Portugal to live a frugal but better , simpler and peaceful life, our house is a very basic, semi ruin, up in the hills outside Figueiro Dos Vinhos, where we work our land, enjoy life with each other and our dogs, and hope to make the smallest carbon footprint we can,

Sunday 24 April 2011

Nettle Soup. Frugal Living Recipe.

As we have tons of nettles coming up all over at the moment, I thought I’d give this recipe a try, Rick wasn’t too keen but he’s a bit of a stick in the mud when it comes to trying new things…

Nettles in your garden is actually a good thing, apart from the fact that you can eat them like spinach, make soup or dry them and make a good herbal tonic tea with them. They are just so full of Iron and vitamins.. If you have them in your garden, It means you have plenty of nutrients in your soil …

Only of course use good clean nettle tops, fresh young vibrant ones, don’t pick from near a road or where dogs could have wee’d on them …



Two large potatoes, diced.

1 large onion, chopped,

A couple of carrots diced.

A clove of garlic…

A good slosh of olive oil

A good-sized colander full of nettle tops



Fry off the chopped veg till it all softens, add the nettle tops, stir round till they wilt, cover all with a few inches of water, I added a stock cube, and simmer till all veg is soft and cooked, blitz with a hand blender… taste, season if needed…Its VERY green…

Simple as that… its yummy… even Rick enjoyed it…