When we teamed up with E-Mealz for a food related giveaway, I had to ask what your favorite easy meal or appetizer is to make.

Personally, I love delicious bread, roasted garlic (takes a while, but really easy), and a wheel of Brie cheese.  Lightly toast the bread, squeeze the garlic out, spread on the bread, and top with warm Brie.  Delicious and it seems fancier than it really is.  Our winner, number 27, Liz, planned to make a chili cheese dog dip for the Super Bowl.  Liz, how was it?

I also knew this was the perfect time to share a recipe, as a few of you requested.  So, here it is, my version of Gordon Ramsay’s carrot soup.

Ingredients:

3 Tablespoons butter {or 1 1/2 Tablespoons butter and 1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil}

1 large onion, chopped

3 or 4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped {substitute 1 to 1 1/2 Tablespoons garlic powder for fresh garlic}

5 cups carrots, peeled and chopped

3 fourteen ounce cans chicken or vegetable stock

1 Tablespoon parsley {fresh or dried}

3 Tablespoons orange juice (fresh or concentrate}

5 to 8 ounces sour cream {or get fancy and use crème fraîche}

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper {more or less to taste}

pinch of nutmeg

Instructions:

1.  In a large pan, heat the butter and sautee the onion and garlic for 2 to 3 minutes.  Add carrots and stir to coat with butter.

2.  Add stock, parsley, and cayenne to the carrot mixture.  Let it simmer for an hour.  Remove from heat and blend in small batches.  Or, get fancy with an immersion blender.

3.  Add the orange juice.  Ladel into serving bowls and garnish with a scoop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cayenne, nutmeg, and parsley.

Tips:  If you’re in a hurry, cut the carrots into 1/2 wide pieces for faster cooking.

Don’t worry about the size of the onion or how uniform it is.  Everything goes in the blender.

If you want to make this in a crock pot, follow the instructions, leaving on low for 4 or more hours.  You can probably skip sautéed the onion, but I’ve never tried.  Though I have successfully made this in the crock pot.

Even if you’re not carrot’s biggest fan, you might like this.  What do you think, worth a try?  Still interested in seeing our recipes?  Haha.