Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup for One

This simple little dish will make your kitchen smell marvelous and it will fill your tummy in the most satisfying way ever. And it’s orange. More food should be orange, don’t you agree?

½ TBLSP olive or coconut oil

1 clove garlic, minced

2-3 carrots, sliced

1 small sweet potato (about ½ cup), chopped into small cubes

1 dried apricot, diced

Dash of turmeric

Dash of ground cumin

Dash of ground ginger (or ½ inch of fresh, diced)

¼ cup water

Pinch of salt

Zest of ¼ orange (or dried)

1 ½ TBLSP orange juice (from the orange you just zested), about ¼ of an orange

1/3 cup almond milk (or other non-dairy milk—coconut would be lovely)

Ground black pepper to taste

1. In a saucepan large enough to hold the whole serving, heat the oil and toss in the garlic.
2. Add the carrots and sweet potato, dried apricots and spices. Toss them around in there for 3-5 minutes, softening the veggies a bit. Don’t burn the spices, though. Just brown ‘em. Your kitchen should smell fabulous.
3. Add the water and salt, give it a stir, cover it, and let it simmer for 10 minutes. You’ll probably want to turn the heat down a bit, so you don’t boil all the water away. The object is to soften the veggies, but not turn them into mush. You should be able to push a wooden spoon through the veggies when they’re cooked to perfection.
4. Add the zest, orange juice, and almond milk and simmer for 5 more minutes.
5. Use an immersion blender or pour the soup into a blender or food processor and whirl until smooth.
6. Top with ground black pepper and serve.

That yummy looking side dish is homemade naan topped with faux cream cheese, diced yellow onions, avocado, home-grown sprouts (alfalfa, mung, and broccoli), with a bit of chopped cilantro and some chopped raw almonds. It was yummy too.