Sunday, November 8, 2009

Carrot Ginger Soup To Brighten Your Day for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

If the fall days are gray and cloudy where you live, this Carrot Ginger Soup is the perfect healthy, delicious soup to brighten your day. (It also works on sunny, crisp fall days too!). This creamy, bright orange bowl of soupy goodness is from Clean Food by Terry Walters, on the top of my cookbook pile lately as I endeavor to do better at eating clean and healthy. It gets its thickness from puréeing the carrots and some rolled oats, the miso gives it a rich creaminess and along with the warming ginger, tempers the sweetness a bit.


Terry Walters says, "This nondairy soup is surprisingly easy to make and is big on taste. A handheld blender is perfect for puréeing soups and requires less cleanup than a food processor. When possible, prepare soups a day in advance to allow the flavors to blend. Then simply reheat, garnish and serve."


Carrot Ginger Soup
Clean Food, Terry Walters
(Serves 4)

2 Tbsp grapeseed oil
1 onion, chopped
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
4 cups chopped carrots
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup orange juice (preferably freshly squeezed)
water or vegetable stock
3 Tbsp mellow white miso
chopped fresh parsley for garnish

In a large pot over medium heat, sauté onions and ginger in oil 3 minutes. Add carrots, oats, orange juice and enough water or stock to just cover carrots. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and let simmer until carrot are soft (about 20 minutes). Turn off heat, cover and purée with handheld blender. In a small bowl, dissolve miso in 1/2 cup room temperature water and stir into soup. Garnish with parsley and serve.


Notes/Results: Creamy, with wonderful flavor--this is a great soup and I love how fast and simple it is to make for all the flavor you get. I made a half batch of the recipe because I had a lot of leftovers filling my fridge and after trying it, wished I made the whole batch. No matter, it is easy enough to make more. I kept the recipe as-is, other than adding some black pepper for a little pop. This is the second soup I have tried that uses oats to thicken it, (here is the first--an asparagus soup), and I like how well it works. This soup tastes so rich and good that you wouldn't guess it was good for you. Perfect for a light lunch or snack or as a starter to a dinner and it was even better reheated the next day. I will make it again.



Let's see who is in the Souper Sunday kitchen and what goodies they brought with them.


Debby from A Feast for the Eyes is here with a gorgeous Italian Wedding Soup. Starting with some delicious homemade stock (Debby has some great step by step instructions on her site), some leftover meatballs and other ingredients from her pantry, Debby made this soup to combat a cold. She says, "Chicken soup really is good for anything that is ailing you, I do believe! This is my son's favorite soup, and he's been begging me to make it for him. So I carefully packed some into Chinese takeout boxes (that I buy in bulk) and delivered it to his apartment. He was so happy to have some home cooked loving!"



Another classic, made exotic with Indian spices is this warming Tomato Soup from Sumana at With Coffee and Tea. Sumana says, “Just the thing for a cold wintry night. Here is a wonderfully easy recipe for traditional Indian tomato soup. It is ready in a jiffy, tastes wonderful, and acts as a lovely side-dish or appetizer. Serve it with a heavy curry/rice combo and some crusty bread and you are in heaven.



Kait from Pots and Plots pulled out her crock pot and came up with this Steak and Vegetable Soup. Kait says, "How happy am I that fall seems to have finally arrived, and with it weather conducive to all the soups and stews I love to make? After the weekend’s excesses (can we say Halloween candy, roasted marshmallows, and more hot dogs than I care to admit that I ate?), I was in the mood for something healthy with loads of flavor."



Making the most of a fall favorite is Natatshya from Living in the Kitchen with Puppies with her Butternut Squash Chipotle Soup. Natashya says, "This is an easy and tasty soup to keep you warm and nourished in these colder and darker days. Really it couldn't be simpler. Feel free to change the flavourings with harissa, sriracha or any other favourite spicy seasoning. The most difficult part of the soup is peeling the squash. My version is lightened up a bit with the addition of fresh yogurt, and some crunch is added with the toasted squash seeds. Bon appetit!"



Kim from Stirring the Pot has a new favorite to share, Cheeseburger Soup. She says, "This was an easy and delicious soup. It was even more delicious the next day and was happily gobbled up by all. This has become one of my favorite soups and will be made on a regular basis now. I loved that each person could customize their soup with their favorite burger topping. Ideas for toppings are: bacon (of course), tomato, chopped dill pickle or relish, red onion, and many more. I went ahead and put about a teaspoon of relish on my soup, which seemed to really brighten up the flavor of the soup. A delicious and comforting family favorite.."



Lots of inner dialogue came together for Heather of girlichef in making this Curried Coconut Butternut Squash Soup but I'll let her tell you! "Butternut Squash. What to do with you? Recall if you will, my recently begun expedition into the wide world of squash...in all of its glory. Switch gears. I needed soup today...ah, the days when I used to make soup at least once a week...where did you go? I miss you dear, comforting friend. Switch gears. While flipping through Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express I decided I would make soup this morning... so that I could refill my bowl all day long. Bring it all together. And there just happened to be a soup recipe that used Butternut Squash in there...two birds, one stone!"



Graziana from Erbe in Cucina took the ingredients for a Caprese Salad and made them into a hearty sandwich with this Caprese Focaccia. She says, "When I planned this focaccia stuffed with a sort of Caprese salad, I thought to use thai basil. But when I went to the balcony I found out that the last thai basil leaves are too tiny and it doesn't look good. So I harvest some fresh arugula and a tiny, tender celery stalk, and I must say that maybe this solution was better then the original idea."



Fabulous soups for fall and a great salad transformed into a sandwich--another wonderful week. Thanks to everyone who joined in. If you have a soup, salad, sandwich or combination that you would like to share, just click on the logo on the side bar for all of the details.

Happy Sunday!

15 comments:

  1. oh wow great soup now I have another recipe for my white miso Rebecca

    ReplyDelete
  2. mmm that and the rest of the round-up looks good!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have not blogged in cool or cold weather when we can delve into all kinds of hot soups, warm and comforting. I love the recipes that are here and I am looking forward to more soup recipes more than ever before.

    ReplyDelete
  4. carrot + ginger sounds amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love carrot and ginger together - a match made in heaven. And I am madly in love with the orange background! It looks so pretty. Orange is my favourite colour - my stand mixer is the same colour.
    Great round-up!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love the idea of adding miso and ginger to the soup! Very delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am amazed at the oat addition. I would just never have thought to put them in a soup!

    This soup has such a great color to it. And I bet TONS of flavor. Carrot and ginger are so good together.

    Great round-up!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love love love Souper Sunday. Such a great idea. Lots of good stuff this week!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I swear, you are the healthiest person I know - all these wonderful recipes you make - and not a drop of fat anywhere!

    I feel so shameful......

    ReplyDelete
  10. Love the use of white miso in the delicious carrot ginger soup, yummy! Great roundup!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yet another fabulous round-up. I love your carrot and ginger soup. I'll bet the combo is amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  12. everything looks so yummy!! the color of your soup is fab!!! I bet with the sweetness of carrots and the spicy ginger it would be great!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Delicious round-up! Your carrot soup sounds so good. I love the idea of oats to thicken it. And soups almost always taste better the next day - if you can wait!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks for sharing some new soup ideas! It's just starting to get cold in Northern California and I have been on a serious soup kick lately. I was getting a little tired of butternut squash :). Can't wait to try the Carrot Ginger, yum!

    Jen

    ReplyDelete

Mahalo for visiting and for leaving a comment. I love reading them and they mean a lot!

All advertising, spam, inappropriate (or just plain rude) comments will be promptly deleted. I do appreciate your right to free speech and to your opinion but I'm not into mean, rude, or mean snarky (non-mean snarky is just fine!) ;-)