Carrot Soup

I regularly read a blog (poke around her blog for a bunch of uber healthy recipes) that is about one woman's journey with and thoughts about food. She posts a lot of recipes and posted this one a couple days ago that included a carrot and a cauliflower soup. Somehow that lit a fire under me and I was determined to try it! The ingredients look totally simple and process totally doable! Today I gave the carrot soup a whirl (previously aired).

I'm dogsitting and this couple has a great kitchen full of cooking toys and expensive knives and such. I bought my two pounds of organic carrots and carton of soy ginger broth (sounded like it would go well with carrots, right?) at Trader Joes and came back to the house and got to work! My perception of measuring...things...well, sucks. It calls for 2 lbs of carrots and at least 4 cups of broth and, somehow, in my brain I thought that that would equate to maybe 2 servings of soup. I don't know! Don't things shrink when you blend them, or something?! So, anyways, after I was done cooking the carrots in the broth and sauteeing the onions and garlic, I grab the shiny cuisinart blender and start spooning stuff into it. I added tofu (good source of soy protein and pretty flavorless, so it's great to throw in with smoothies and such) and whole almonds (didn't have almond paste).

Now, the point at which I start altering and/or adding things is usually when the shit hits the fan and my good intentions totally fall apart. I fill the blender up to a couple inches of the top and give it a whirl. You in shows like I Love Lucy when the blender goes crazy and splatters it's contents all over? It happened. Several times. On the blender that's probably worth more than my life. Great. Ok, so it wasn't totally all over, but I made a mess. And since it made about 34x the amount that I thought it would, I had to do 2 whole blenders full! And since it kept burping up out of the top, I had to keep it on pulse and couldn't let it just blend and get nice and smooth.

End result: MIRACULOUS!! Seriously. It's so good. Because it didn't blend totally smooth, it has a nice pulpy texture and tiny little pieces of almond that add just a tiny bit of crunch. I ate a bowl full and was absolutely stuffed (which takes a lot). I haven't tried the cauliflower soup yet (roasting things scares me), but that's next on the list. Try it. Super easy (assuming you can tame your blender) and insanely good. And good for you. (update: I did try the cauliflower and it wasn't nearly as good. Cauliflower just isn't as flavorful as carrots. The original author added some spices and stuff to it, though, which would probably help a lot)

2 lbs carrots (or pretty much any veggie or combo of veggies)
4 cups of broth
1 yellow onion
garlic (to taste. I think I used like 4-ish cloves)

extras (if you want):
almonds (or any nuts)
tofu (tasteless and adds protein AND makes it a little creamier)

Sautee the onions and garlic in some oil or butter, add the broth and veggies and simmer until the veggies are soft. Stick it all in a blender (probably wanna wait til it's not boiling hot), or use an immersion blender. Blend it smooth or leave it a little chunky...