With the summer harvest in full swing, fresh produce has been abundant. So I grabbed some beautiful fresh carrots and I wanted to enjoy the delicious flavour by making a simple and fresh soup.

I found that depending on the weather outside, this soup is both delicious hot or cold. (When I tried some left overs straight from the fridge on a warm day, it was excellent!). I hope to be able to show how easy it is to make a soup at home which would go perfectly with delicious a chunk of bread!

If you're feeling adventurous, this type of soup would also work well with other root veggies (e.g. you could try parsnip or beets in place of carrots)!

Step 1: Gather the Ingredients

Ingredients (4-6 servings):

Fresh carrots (2 lbs) - (peeled and chopped)
1/4 - 1/2 head cabbage - (chopped)
1 onion - (diced)
2 stalks celery - (chopped)
1/2 inch piece of ginger
2 cloves of garlic (diced)
Vegetable stock mix
8 cups boiling water
Spices
- 1.5 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp sage
- 1/2 tsp cayenne (use less or more depending on your love of spicy)
- Chopped fresh parsley
- Salt & pepper

Tools:

Soup pot
Cutting board
Sharp knife
Peeler
Rasp or small grater (for ginger)
Measuring cup
Wooden spoon
Teaspoon and fork
Use of a stove
Use of a blender (I used a Nutribullet, Magic Bullet blender)

Step 2: Cooking Your Ingredients

While the potato is baking, you can begin cooking your other ingredients on the stove top.

Turn stove top onto medium heat
Once the pot is heated, add diced onions and allow to cook uncovered for 3-5 minutes, stirring often.
Add spices (cumin, sage and cayenne), garlic, and grate in your ginger. Give a quick stir.
Next, add chopped carrots and allow to cook covered (with a lid on) for about another 3 minutes.
While that is cooking, mix your veggie stock powder into your 8 cups of measured boiled water (using the label directions).
- Pour veggie stock into pot and cover. Allow to simmer on medium-low for 30 minutes until carrots are soft.
Add a bit of salt and pepper right at the end.

Step 3: Making the Soup

I only have a Nutribullet blender but it works well to blend the soup. I would suggest you let everything cool slightly before blending. Also, since this was a big quantity of soup, I blended it it into a few batches using the largest Nutribullet cup and filling to the "MAX" line. A traditional blender will work well too!

Steps to blend your soup:

Add carrot & liquids in the Nutribullet large cup (until the max fill line)
Put on the blending blade and blend until smooth (about 20 seconds)
Pour blended soup either into a large bowl (if reheating), or individual serving bowls (if serving cold), as preferred.

Repeat in batches as needed until all the soup is blended. If you would like to re-heat you can put the soup back in the pot and warm slightly.

Sprinkle with chopped parsley, and serve with salt and pepper. Enjoy!

Tips:

If you like a thicker soup you can either:
- add baked sweet potato or cooked cauliflower as they will do a great job at thickening. Add these ingredients to the blender with the carrots and liquid and blend.
- remove some of the water/stock from the soup before blending.