Creamy Apple Carrot Soup

After all of the fun and excess of the holiday season, I have been consciously trying to use up left overs.  Another good resolution (that is not official or anything) is to waste less food.  I can get carried away at the grocery store sometimes...okay, a lot of times.  At the same time, I want to have a good amount of fresh produce on hand to whip up healthy meals as often as we are in the mood.

Two things have helped me use most of the fresh stuff as we buy it.

1. Green Smoothies.  I usually keep them to greens and fruit, but if there are excess carrots...In they go! 
2. Creamy Vegetable Soups.  You know how I was raving about the butternut squash soup here, and here.  Well, it's success has inspired me to try other blended veggie soups like...

Creamy Carrot & Apple Soup

These pictures are from my first attempt making Angela's Ginger Carrot Apple Soup.  It was okay.  I'm not the biggest ginger fan yet (working on it!) and the soup had practically no fat in it.  My goal is not to promote supper creamy, unhealthy soups, but if a soup is going to be my dinner, it has to have some umph and staying power.  That leads me to this recipe.  My fridge had a big stash of extra baby carrots and apples that were dying to be souped up.  It's a cross the Ginger Carrot Apple soup and Butternut Squash soup. 

Ingredients:

1 Small Onion Sliced

2-3 Cloves of Garlic Minced

1 Tablespoon of Oil

2 Gala Apples Cubed

4 Cups Carrots Cubed

1 Red Pepper Cubed (or any other veg you want to use up)

2 Cups Chicken Broth

2+ Cups Milk (enough to cover at least half of the top layer of apples and carrots in the pot)

4 oz Cream Cheese

Spices to taste

Instructions:

Heat oil in stock pot and saute onions and garlic until onions begin to become translucent.

Add apples, carrots, pepper, broth and milk to onion mix.  Bring mixture to boil and simmer until carrots are tender.  About 15-20 minutes.

Blend until smooth.  If using a blender I believe you need to let the soup cool slightly.  I usually just plunge my immersion blender in without much cooling though.  

Add cream cheese and spices to taste.  Blend again until all is incorporated.

Enjoy!

Note:  Gala apples have been on sale in Houston, so that's how I ended using those.  I bet others would work well too!  Also, the red pepper was an afterthought as it was also in my fridge, but it worked here.  

Toasting.

All ready for addition!  This is a 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup for your reference.

Set it and....forget it!  For 15 minutes.  That is the magic of soup :)

Not particularly exciting, but good.  

In my soup escapades this season I have found that a little cream cheese goes a long way.  I love it.  Another thing I love about soups is the lunches they also provide.  I have a few glass jam and almond butter jars that are great for bringing soup to work for quick work lunches.  I just microwave the whole jar and eat right out of it.  Perfecto!


On a completely different note.  Here are a few old pictures from Thanksgiving.  The bird got a little toasty in the oven and let off a nice amount of smoke at one point.  We set up fans to blow out the smoke and the kitties kept trying to escape!  You can hardly tell, but both window here are cracked open to let air in, but not enough to let cats out.

The first explorer.

He's thinking, "Is this a trick?  Why do you torture us so?"

Stumped.