orange is in

in the world of vegetable-based soups, many smooth, creamy-style soups are the sneakiest bastards of the bunch: they look like the contain cream/dairy, they smell like they contain cream/dairy, and (most importantly), they TASTE like they contain cream/dairy, but TA-DA! they don't! amazing! how do you achieve this waistline-friendly flavorbomb? it's all in the puree, loves.

it's rather simple really, and the best part is that, once you get the hang of it, you can pretty much throw together any vegetables with complimentary flavors and find success sans recipe (i'm still fine-tuning my liquid/solid proportions a bit, which is where recipes help. if you have the energy to recipe-it, you can probably get a good idea of this ratio down pat... or you could fly by the seat of your pants and just live a little). basically, all you need to do is chop some veggies, throw 'em in some stock until they're tender, drop 'em in a food processor (or blender), and puree the shit out of 'em. once you've got a gunky mass that looks an awful lot like babyfood, stir it back into your broth, season, and voila! soup!

here's this concept in action:

last night, after a particularly produce-inspired trip to the market (i love calling the grocery store the market; it makes me feel like i'm a wee little lass who spends her days roaming the cobbled streets of her charming provincial village), inspiration struck: i had sweet potatoes, i had carrots, i had a pantry exploding with various spices: i knew i had a good soup in me.

after sauteing a leek and throwing in some veggie broth (5 cupsish), i threw in two peeled, sliced sweet potatoes and like maybe two handfuls of baby carrots, also chopped (i suppose regular carrots would do, but i never buy them because baby carrots are so versatile and mini-cute-delish). i let all of this come to a boil, then sit over medium heat until veggies were ready to hit the blender. ten minutes later, i had a very orange, very carrot-y soup, and it didn't need much seasoning - a bit of curry powder, ginger and cinnamon and a generous squirt of honey did the trick! i topped my soup with some romano, truffle oil and cracked pepper, and it was YUMM-O.

up next? a kale chip taste-test. rants about toddlers and tiaras. so.many.things!

xo