Creamy Carrot Soup

One of my favorite, and first cookbooks was The New Moosewood Cookbook (Mollie Katzen's Classic Cooking). Many of my favorite recipes from this cookbook are based on vegetables and are naturally gluten-free. Even before I was gluten-free, I never experimented much with the baking in this book and usually stuck to the soups and vegetable recipes—the book's forté.

Over years of making the "Herbed Carrot Soup Recipe," I have adjusted it to make it not so thick (made according to the recipe it's more like a carrot purée than a soup), give it more flavor and make it simpler to make. It's a good source of beta carotene to keep your skin glowing until strawberry season.

Quick & Kicked up Carrot Soup

2 lbs baby carrots*

1 medium organic potato

6 cups vegetable broth

1.5 cups chopped onions

1 Tbs. Olive Oil

1 tsp. salt

5 medium cloves garlic

1/2 tsp. thyme

1/2 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. basil

1. Roughly chop the carrots and organic potato (leave skin on) and place them in large soup pot with 6 cups of vegetable broth.

2. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until carrots and potato are soft (about 15 minutes).

3. Heat oil in small sauce pan. Add onions and salt and sauté for 5 minutes until fragrant. Add garlic and dried herbs and sauté for 5 more minutes.

4. Put the contents of the skillet into the saucepan and puree everything with a hand blender or in a regular blender in batches.

*You can use 2 lbs of regular carrots but baby carrots that are already cleaned and peeled save you about 15 minutes.