Awesome Carrot & Veggie Soup

Ohhh, Carrots!

We planted an early harvest of traditional orange carrots and a wonderful new variety of rainbow carrots, which are really so fantastic, and the girls cannot get enough of the purple carrots! Watching children harvest carrots completely sums up why I started Farm to Table Kids! They pull the carrots out of the grown, brush it off on the grass and eat it! It's awesome! They might not eat the whole thing (although most do), but they try it! And they always harvest with smiles! Ohhh carrots, we just love you so!

I LOVE SOUP!  But I have never really been a huge fan of carrot soup.  I think it's because I love hearty soups, and carrot soup seems very think and runny to me.  So I decided to make my own version of a hearty carrot (and veggie) soup with a great harvest of fresh garden carrots.

I'm happy to say, this soup turned out to be awesome! When looking for carrot soup recipes, I noticed the carrot soup recipes that looked yummy to me seemed to have cream or milk added to the soup. I didn't want to add dairy to the carrot soup because I wanted the veggies to shine, so I substituted a fresh potato in place of the milk, and this really transformed the consistency of the soup into a thicker, more harvest hearty soup, and it's super healthy!

Year round, you can get a beautiful bundle of carrots at your local farmer's market for a sweet happy price. So go to your local farmer, buy some carrots, and make this soup!

Carrot and Veggie Soup Recipe

(makes approximately 6 cups of soup)

Ingredients

1 Medium Onion (chopped)

2  Lbs. Carrots (cut into 1/4 inch rounds)

1  Medium Potato (fresh garden potato with skin on; fresh potatoes have such thin healthy skin)

1  Bunch of Rainbow Swiss Chard (about 8 leaves); leaves thinly sliced and stems diced

4  Cups of Chicken or Vegetable Broth (low sodium) 

1 1/2 Teaspoons Kosher Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper

1 Tablespoon EVOO (olive oil)

Method

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.

Add the chopped onion and cook until translucent (not browned), about 4 minutes.  Remember to stir so the onions don't stick to your pot.

Stir in the carrots, potato, broth, salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low and simmer the soup until the carrots are soft and tender.  About 20 minutes.

Once all your soup ingredients have melted together and all your vegetables are nice and tender it is time to blend the soup. I LOVE LOVE my immersion blender! I used to blend my soups in a blender, which works fine, but with an immersion blender there is no blender to clean, or hot soup to transfer. If you don't have an immersion blender, I highly recommend getting one! You can find a decent one for under $40..totally worth it!

Blend your soup to your desired consistency. I puree mine until it is nice and smooth. 

While the soup is nice and hot, laddell into serving bowls and top with your raw, chopped rainbow swiss chard (you could also use kale) and a dollop of fat free plain greek yogurt. The chard will totally "cook" and melt into the soup with the yogurt and make for a super harvest, hearty soup! 

Ohhhh, it's soooo good!

ENJOY & happy carrot harvest season!