Lemony Carrot Soup

This delicious puréed soup is excellent as a side or a meal. I’ve played around with the recipe a couple times, and it always comes out easy and yummy and very lemony. So it’s pretty flexible if you want to make a few edits of your own.

In general, I change the original recipe to chicken stock (instead of vegetable broth) and add chickpeas for more protein. I also leave out cream/milk because it’s plenty thick on its own. Also, the first time I made it, I was pregnant and I had run out of milk thanks to my chocolate milk craving, but that’s just coincidence. ;)

Other times, I’ve added extra ginger, which is my favorite, pregnant or not. I’ve also added pumpkin purée when I had about 257 cups of it in the freezer after my adventure in pumpkin roasting. Once I did carrots plus a few parsnips. So yeah, feel free to edit the recipe to suit your needs and tastes. For example, it’s super easy to make this vegan if you so desire. It’s hard to mess this one up, and other than the time it takes to chop up a bunch of veggies, it’s straightforward and fast.

I had mine with a couple slices of baguette, a hunk of cheese, and bacon crumbled on top. Enjoy!

Lemony Carrot Soup

1/4 C butter or coconut oil
1 1/2 C chopped onion
1 T chopped or minced ginger
1 1/2 tsp (~3 cloves) chopped or minced garlic
1 lb carrots, peeled and chopped
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
zest of 1 lemon (about 1.5 tsp)
juice of 1 lemon (about 2 T, reserved)
4 C vegetable or chicken stock
1 can chickpeas (garbanzo peas), drained and rinsed

Heat butter/oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for 4 minutes. Then add the ginger and garlic; cook for 2 more minutes.

Add the carrots, tomatoes, and grated lemon peel; stir well and cook for 1 minute. Add the broth and the chickpeas, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until carrots are tender — about 20 minutes.

Blend well with an immersion blender or in batches in a food processor. Stir in lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste.