Magical Spicy Carrot Soup!

Why is it magical, you ask? Because I'm going to show you how this:

(Carrots, celery, onion, broth, olive oil, apple, garlic, cooking cream, cayenne pepper, and flavor boost)

...when cooked in this. ..

 

...and pureed with an immersion blender...

TURNS INTO SOUP!

I opened the fridge today to take a little inventory and realized that the baby carrots and celery that I'd so lovingly and thoughtfully purchased last weekend were sitting there, unused...

I usually cut up fresh vegetables and bring them with me to work every day for a snack... but this week I started that new job, so life has been insane (I don't think I brought my lunch at all this week).

To make matters even worse, I actually had TWO bags of baby carrots - one brand new one and one half-used one.  I could not tolerate the idea of them going to waste.

It is overcast and gray today, with a slight chill in the air.  The perfect day for soup.

1) Cut up your vegetables - you can be creative here, but I used a bag of baby carrots, an entire package of celery hearts (washed and trimmed), a vidalia onion, an apple, and 2 cloves of garlic,

2) In your dutch oven (or stockpot), heat 3 TBSP of EVOO.  Add the vegetables, reduce heat, and let them sautee for a few minutes.

3) Open your can of broth and pour it in...

4) ... then use the flavor boost.  Not sure what flavor boost is?  It's amazing - these little packets that can be found in the soup aisle, near the boullion.  It is basically like hyper-concentrated stock -- and for this one I used one packet of the vegetable variety.  I've used the beef before, in stew or pot roast, and it is also pretty delicious.

5) Add a little water if necessary, so that the vegetables are just covered.

6) Add a little salt, a little pepper, whatever strikes you.

7) Cover and let it simmer for about 20 minutes.

8) Remove from heat and set the dutch oven on a trivet...

9) Open up your brand new immersion blender (a wedding shower gift from your step mother-in-law), that you've never used, and marvel at how much nicer it is than the junky $20 you used for years.

10) working slowly, puree the vegetables.

11) I added about two tbsp of cooking creme here, but I'm not sure if it really made a difference.

12) Taste.

13) Season -- I was trying to replicate a boxed soup that I love, so I added a few shakes of cayenne pepper.  Careful, a little goes a long way.

Enjoy!

And now it is time for my workout. :-)

Off and running,
~Jessica

PS: Sorry for the poor picture quality - this was BEFORE I changed the 3 burned out light bulbs that magically all poofed out at the same time!