Soups!

I was in the mood for easy and cheap this past week, and two soups made the cut!

First, this weekend, I copied Erin and made Quinoa Avocado Soup. This was tasty, though, my not paying attention led to it being a little overcooked and needing to add lots more broth, opps! In the end, it was still tasty, though I think I'd like to add some chicken or something. I suppose that defeats the purpose of the easy and cheapness, but oh well! This has also inspired me to find the recipe for the quinoa soup my host mother made in Ecuador. I don't know if I'll succeed, but I'll keep you posted.



Second, tonight, I was going to make lentil soup, but then, Curry Carrot Soup caught my eye. Alex and I had amazing carrot soup in Guatemala, and I thought maybe this might bring us a back. Although it was a bit different then the soup in Guatemala, it was still delicious. It was also probably one of the cheapest meals I've made, which is key for this unemployed girl. It was also healthy and super easy!



My only qualm about the carrot soup was that it's not particularly filling. So, if you have a hungry boy in the house, be sure to have some bread or other fillers on hand. I made some tasty cornbread muffins. But, if you need a soup to have as a course before a meal, this would be great. Also, next time, I would love to add some quinoa to this, I think it would work well and make it more filling.



Curry Carrot Soup
Adapted from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast, by Martha Stewart

2 TBS Butter (The one non healthy part, which I think is cancelled out by the 2 pounds of carrots!)
1 C chopped onion
1 tsp curry powder
salt and pepper
2 lbs of carrots, peeled and chopped into small pieces
3.5 C of broth, (I used about 2 C of chicken broth and 1.5 of veggie broth)
A few cloves of pressed garlic
Juice from half a lemon

Heat the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, curry powder, 1 tsp salt plus a shake, a few grinds of pepper, and the garlic. Saute about 5 minutes or so.

Add the broth, carrots, and 3 C of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat; cover; and simmer until the carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.

Blend the mixture until smooth. I used an immersion blender for this and it worked great! Stir in the lemon juice and serve.