Soup season

It is definitely the season for soup to warm us up on wet and cold autumn days, and it seems lots of you agree as there were plenty of requests for my Peanut Butter Soup recipe which I shall share later in my blog.

But first, like quite a few of you I’m sure, I’ve finally started Christmas shopping. Granted, the first present I’ve bought is for Wilfie, our black cat, but I was so impressed with the Pet Gloves I was presenting on air last weekend that I have bought him a pair for Christmas. He’s a funny little chap as he quite happily allows me to stick my finger in his mouth every morning to brush his teeth but he doesn’t really enjoy having his coat brushed… after a couple of strokes he starts biting the brush. In the summer months when he is shedding he is often sick after cleaning himself, so I am hoping these will at least reduce that.

I also treated myself this week to a new hat and glove set from Muk Luks. I’ve had my quirky owl hat for years and although I love it, it doesn’t actually keep my head very warm so… I’ve gone penguin!

Muk Luks have some fabulous socks sets too, ideal if you have hard floors at home rather than cosy carpets – check out the range on our website.

If you need a bit of warming up from the inside out, here is my soup recipe:

Peanut Butter Soup

Serves: 4 – 6 people

• 1 onion finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon marmite
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 2 ‘generous’ tablespoons tomato puree
• Half a 454grm jar crunchy peanut butter
• 1 litre boiling water

There are two methods depending on the consistency required. Either;

Soften the onion in the olive oil for five minutes over a low heat, while placing all other ingredients in a jug blender (we have a new one coming to QVC in a couple of weeks called Blendtec, so keep your eyes peeled). Add the onion and blitz for a couple of minutes to give a very smooth soup.

Or;

Soften onion as above. Crumble stock cube into boiling water and add marmite and tomato puree. Add a small amount of liquid, about a quarter, to the pan with the onion then add the peanut butter and stir until mixed in. Add the rest of the liquid and bring to the boil, then turn off heat and blend with a hand blender. This takes a bit longer but keeps a bit more texture to the soup. The soup should be orange in colour, a bit like Cream of Tomato soup – if it’s not, add more tomato puree and blend for a further 30 seconds.

Do let me know what you think if you make it.

I also had some lovely feedback for my books among your comments on last week’s blog. Thank you so much for all your kind words, it means a lot to me. I’d had this letter from Audrey saying how much she enjoyed reading the latest one, What He Did, but she is my mother-in-law so you’d hope she would be supportive. It makes all the hours at my writing desk worthwhile to know that people have enjoyed what I have written, so I really mean it when I say thank you for taking the time to write your comments – much appreciated.

Following on from the success of the Elemis Today’s Special Offer (TSV) last weekend, we have another gorgeous beauty offer launching on air tonight at 9pm, but already proving popular on pre-launch. I think L’Occitane have excelled themselves with the presentation box – imagine someone’s face opening this present on Christmas morning!!

There are three different options: Floral, Fresh or Warm. I’ve been using the warm option which has the Shea Shower Oil in a half litre size, Shea Ultra-Rich Hand Wash, also half a litre and a 150ml Shea Hand Cream in limited edition packaging and separately boxed. As well as all that, there is a separate gift box with four smaller items in it, in my case: 75ml Almond Shower Oil, 50g Almond Soap, 30ml Almond Hand Cream and all the options have the Shea Ultra-Rich Lip Balm.

The smaller box would be a fabulous teacher’s gift or a thank you to someone who walks your dog while you are at work or feeds your pets when you are on holiday. So, at least two presents ticked off your list, but potentially three if you give the hand cream separately.

I wonder if any of you have ordered yours yet and whether you used the new QR code we have been flashing up on screen to take you straight to the TSV page on our website. It’s easy to use, just open the camera on your phone or tablet facing the code and a box will appear on screen. Click the box and it should take you straight there.

We also used it for the Hotel Chocolat TSV, speaking of which did you listen to this week’s QVC podcast featuring Angus Thirlwell, the man behind the brand? Follow this link to take you there if you are interested. There will be a new one up on Monday with Will Gowing interviewing Kate Thornton and the following week it is Tova Borgnine – hopefully some fascinating Hollywood stories in that one.

Well, I must finish there as I’m heading into work shortly. I’m not in this weekend, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be checking out some of our Black Friday Offers live on our website from today. See you later.

Much love,

Julia xx