When the weather is such that you struggle to keep warm, what better way than to simmer a good, hearty soup for hours to warm your interior at dinnertime? Sundays used to be dedicated to roast beef and Yorkshire pudding but now people who are aware of the need to fuel themselves with an eye to health, turn elsewhere for their dinner menus. Yesterday was one of those icily blustery days, so cold and windy that even triple-glazed windows emitted gusts of chill.

Overnight Saturday I had put to soaking a mixture of lima beans, lentils, chick peas and white peas. Early Sunday afternoon I began assembling the constituents of a soul-satisfying soup for dinner, starting with a jalapeno pepper, olive oil, garlic cloves, onion, and sauteed them briefly before dumping the well-soaked bean mixture over them, adding three chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, boiling water, bay leaf, a bouillon cube and a dash of salt. That simmered for several hours, nicely infusing the house with a delectable fragrance.

I stirred the soup on the odd occasion I passed by the stove, inhaling the promise of a hot, flavourful dinner. Shortly before serving time I added chopped zucchini and chopped celery, stirred gently, sprinkled thyme generously over the top, and replaced the cover, letting it simmer again until finished.

That, accompanied (for me by a small fresh vegetable salad, for him an egg-salad sandwich - chopped Vidalia onion and turmeric included) and finished off with fresh raspberries accompanied by ginger cookies I'd baked a few days earlier, concluded Sunday dinner.

An undoubted winner.