Confession here.

I’ve never been much of a soup girl.

I mean, not that I was ever opposed. How else can you heal a cold without Chicken Noodle? (Now it’s “Chickn” noodle.) Or the occasional Grilled Cheese MUST has Tomato Soup for that gooey, dipping perfection. But beyond that? I didn’t want to waste time making soup.

But now that I’ve been getting a CSA for over 3 years and my schedule has NOT slowed down, it’s nearly impossible to keep up with all of these damn veggies. But now, I can can saute a few, add water/stock and Voila! I can divide soup into mason jars, stick them in the freezer and pull out a lunch without worrying about BPA or whether it’s organic. Because, duh, I made it from farm-fresh, local & organic vegetables.

So soup has saved me.

This recipe came in the magic of my Red Earth Farm CSA newsletter, and I adjusted it based on the veggies I had in my fridge.

I prepped this soup in less than an hour before work one morning and savored it for lunch. The sweetness of carrots & sweet potatoes plus a little bit of spices was perfect to boost my mid-day energy.

I’ll let you in on this little secret, too:

Orange Delight: Carrot & Sweet Potato Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3-4 carrots, chopped coarsley (apprx 1 lb)
• 5 small sweet potatoes
• 1 large onion or 1.5 small ones, chopped
• A couple dashes of garlic powder/half clove garlic
• 2 TBs olive oil
• 4 cups water
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 1/2 tsp salt

Method

1. Heat olive oil in in soup pot. Saute the onions for a minute before adding carrots and salt.

2. Simmer 2-4 minutes.

3. Add dash of garlic powder/garlic.

4. Add spices and cook for 1 more minute, or until it’s smelling nice and spicy.

5. Add 4 cups of water to pot.

6. Add sweet potatoes. Cook just until tender.

Nope, that’s not a photoshop error. Yep, that’s the steam of the soup in the photo. #actionshot.

7. Puree in food processor or blender until desired consistency. In my case, I made it smooth.

Note: Depending on how much soup you make + size of your food processor, you may not be able to blend it all in one shot. I simply blended half, returned it to the pot and then scooped out the solid veggies to blend the rest.

8. Taste and add seasonings if you’d like, or a dash of black pepper.

9. Serve & enjoy. Garnishing ideas: a sprig of parsley or thyme, or slice of tomato.

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Julie Hancher is Editor-in-Chief of Green Philly, sharing her expertise of all things sustainable in the city of brotherly love. She enjoys long walks in the park with local beer and greening her travels, cooking & cat, Sir Floofus Drake. View all posts by Julie Hancher