The surprise hit that I never saw coming!

I have to admit, I didn’t think the kids would go for a bowl of homemade carrot soup one little bit, but they did… and how. They loved it! Everyone wanted seconds!  There wasn’t a drop left, and I’ve already been asked when I’m going to make it again. And the thing is, it’s so easy to make, I can’t believe it took me so long.

Now the reason that I had a lot of puréed carrots lying around is because I was trying out a couple of recipes from Jessica Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious cook book… you know, the one designed to fool your kids into eating vegetables? Well, what a disaster that was: “Why does it taste funny?” – “Erm… well, I mixed in some carrots.” – “Ewww, I don’t like it, it tastes weird.” After that reaction, I decided it would be truly foolish to attempt another veggie purée recipe (maybe one day I’ll try one of the dessert recipes). So, I saved my puréed carrots, and a few days later made something with carrots that the kids actually DID like… a lot.

Here’s the how to…

INSTRUCTIONS

CARROT PURÉE

After you wash, peel and cut your carrots into 3 inch lengths – discarding the ends, steam them for approximately 10 – 12 minutes until soft. Boiling your carrots would leave them water-logged, which would not only make for a watery purée, but would drain away many of the nutrients. Steaming really is the key to achieving a smooth, thick purée that is tastier and more nutritious.

Food processor vs. blender… the verdict is still out, mainly because it really comes down to personal preference, and the performance quality of YOUR blender or food processor. I used a blender and was very pleased with the results. My boyfriend took over the task, because frankly, he had more patience than I did. You do have to take your time, because the carrots get so thick they gum up the works. So, you have to periodically add small amounts of water as you blend, while pushing the carrots down into the blades with a long-handled wooden spoon.

I have to say, what surprised me the most about the carrot purée was how sweet and delicious it was on its own without any added salt or spices. Mmmmm 🙂

CARROT SOUP

INGREDIENTS

Carrots – approximately 8 cups of puréed carrots

2 cups of unsalted vegetable broth

1 cup of 2 % milk

2 tbsp of 15% cooking cream

1 tsp of dried basil leaves or 1 tbsp of chopped fresh basil leaves (I used dried instead of fresh)

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground garlic

1 tsp salt

METHOD

Purée the carrots

In a saucepan, add the vegetable broth to the carrot purée and set your burner to a medium high setting

Stir in the milk, cream and remaining ingredients

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for a few minutes

AND NOW FOR THE EASY PART…

Serve and enjoy!