Hey guys! Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were perfect and amazing. After a busy final few months of the year, I decided to take the holiday time away from all the work and projects and simply enjoy my husband and our life. Really relish in the magic of the holidays, one of my favorite times of the year. We went to Palm Springs for a few days, went on hikes, to the beach, lots of walks and bike rides in the neighborhood and all that good stuff. It was a break I needed very much and I was happy to get grounded in what really matters this time of year.

I came back to it all yesterday feeling refreshed and excited for this new year ahead. I had time to get organized and focus on what my goals are for this new year. It always feels good to step away and bring an awareness and clarity to the important things in life.

I made lots of comforting and healthy food during the break, with just a little indulging here and there. We worked our way through all of our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) goodies from our box from Beachgreens. With these beautiful organic Russian banana fingerlings potatoes and the unique organic white carrots, I was simply going to roast them, one of my favorite ways to enjoy veggies this time of year, but with the cooler weather a bowl of comforting soup was calling my name. I had some chicken bone broth in the freezer from one of the chickens we got from our farmer a while back, so it was perfect.

This Roasted Potato, White Carrot and Garlic Soup is so creamy and comforting without any of the bad stuff. No butter, cream, cheese or flour. I topped ours with the smallest amount of crispy bacon and some fresh chives, but I also had a bowl without the bacon and it’s still very tasty. Feel free to use whatever carrots you have on hand, you can even use parsnips.

I hope you all had a very lovely holiday season and I am excited to back here and ready to take 2015, head on! 

[print_this]Roasted Potato, White Carrot and Garlic Soup
{gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free w/ vegan options}
serves 4-6

• 2 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced (I used Russian banana fingerlings)
• 1 1/2 lbs white carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 head garlic (entire bulb)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, stem removed and roughly chopped
• sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
• 4 – 6 cups chicken stock/broth (or vegetable broth)
• 1/2 cup non dairy milk, I used cashew milk (optional)

For garnish:

• crispy bacon or coconut bacon
• fresh chives, chopped (or other fresh herbs)
• fresh ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 425ºF.

Add the diced and peeled potatoes and carrots to a large rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan. Drizzle with the olive oil, add the fresh rosemary and a little salt and pepper. Toss it all around to evenly coat and spread into an even layer. Take the head of garlic and peel off the loose outer skin, leave the head itself in tact. Trim about 1/4 inch off the top of the head of garlic to expose the tops of the garlic cloves. Place the bulb inside a small amount of foil and make a pouch. Drizzle just a small amount of olive oil over the garlic and close the foil pouch around it, pinching it at the top.

Place the tray of vegetables and the foil wrapped garlic into the oven. Roast for about 30-45 minutes, tossing the potatoes and carrots occasionally. The vegetables should be golden brown and tender. Check the garlic around 30 minutes. The garlic is done when the center is super soft when pierced with a knife. Remove from the oven, open the foil pouch and set aside to cool.

While the vegetables are nearly done roasting, over a medium heat add the broth to a large saucepan and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer until the vegetables are done.

Once the vegetables are done, add the roasted potatoes and carrots plus the rosemary to the stock and remove from the heat. Squeeze all of the garlic cloves out from their skin and add them to the soup as well. If you are adding the non-dairy milk, add this now, as well.

Puree the soup. Using an immersion blender puree the soup until perfectly smooth, with no lumps remaining or working in batches use a high speed blender. (I used my Vitamix) Taking half of the veggies and broth and adding it to the pitcher of your blender (or less depending on the size of your pitcher), blend the soup until smooth and creamy, then pour this into a large serving bowl and blend the remaining soup. Be careful not to blend too much soup at once and put a towel over the lid when you are blending so the hot soup doesn’t explode out. Adjust seasonings to taste, adding a little sea salt and black pepper, if necessary.

Serve hot garnished with fresh chives and maybe a little bacon (or vegan bacon).

NOTES:

• if you don’t have white carrots, try any variety of carrots or even parsnips
• the varying measurement of the broth allows you to make your soup as thick or as thin as you’d like
• the non-dairy milk isn’t at all integral to the recipe, just brings a little extra creaminess [/print_this]