It’s been one of those weeks – and it’s only Wednesday. The husband and myself have been fighting off colds since the weekend and the toddler was sent home from nursery with conjunctivitis. Joy!

Come lunchtime today I thought perhaps a big bowl of homemade soup would sort us all out. Looking for inspiration I returned to my new guilty pleasure, Anna Jones’ a modern way to eat. She’s got an array of delicious soups to choose from, and they all look as if they would make a week like ours melt away in one spoonful.

Having pondered for sometime, I plumped for her lemony lentil and crispy kale soup. I love dhal and I love lemons, so it seemed the perfect choice, and I wasn’t disappointed.

The short list of ingredients include red lentils, a leek, lemons, turmeric (to give the soup a wonderful yellow glow), mustard seeds, cumin, vegetable stock, kale and yoghurt, Missing a leek, I substituted it for an onion, which I think worked OK, and I cut down on the lemons needed to give the soup that lemony hit. While I’m a great fan of them, the husband isn’t and I felt that using the juice of three lemons was pushing it one lemon too far. Anyway, I could always squeeze more in to more bowl if I thought it necessary, but two seemed to hit the spot nicely.

The kale and yoghurt are welcome garnishes. The slightly salty yoghurt cuts through the lemony lentils and the kale adds another texture to the proceedings.

As for whether the dish did what I wanted it to – the husband and I felt revived enough to take the toddler for a lovely walk at a local farm for the remainder of the afternoon. The toddler rejected the soup, so can’t comment.

Verdict from the husband: ‘That’s nice. Not too lemony. I’ve never had kale before…have I?’ Er, yes you have.