Creamy Tomato Carrot Soup
How quick do you make a decision to do something? Have you ever taken a quick decision that yielded a surprising and wonderful outcome? It depends, I guess right? We had a convivial experience recently because of a plan we put together with our friends in a trice.
Couple of weeks ago, we had a get together at our house with some of our friends. The gathering was about to disperse and one of our friend mentioned that they were planning to visit a family who is a mutual friend of all of us. Since none of us really visited the family at their place, we all jumped in and decided to join them to give a surprise visit to this family who lives in another state. Our intention was to visit them at their church, so there was no plan to visit their house since it was a surprise visit. We all had to leave early morning to get there before the Sunday service started. Soon after the service was over we thought to have some food and drive back. But the plans were all changed because the family insisted us to visit their home. We were received with great hospitality and had a sumptuous lunch at their place. We ended up spending almost half a day at their place and it was such a jovial time we all had. Despite of their busy schedule and a small baby to take care, they opened their house with warm welcoming hearts and we enjoyed each moment we spent there. On the way back, I was analyzing myself and told my hubby that I would have panicked and wouldn't even know how to entertain a group of people when they show up without any notification. How do you handle a situation when there are unexpected guests?
I believe that, it's not just the food that you make for guests matters, it's your welcoming attitude to open the house and the blissful heart to share what you have makes it a comfortable place for your guest to visit. On that note, I would like to remember my hubby's Uncle who passed away 3 years ago around this time; I still Cherish the memories of his great hospitality. No matter at what time you visit their house, they always have their home opened for you with a smile on their faces. A small gesture of love, sharing, caring or a simple smile can touch the hearts of many.
Today I would like to share a comforting and hearty soup that my family loves. I got the inspiration to make this soup from the creamy tomato soup that we get at Panera bread. Please try this recipe and let me know how it turns out for you.
This soup makes a great lunch to pack for kids (refer notes).
Serves - 5
Ingredients
3 cups - cubed carrots
12 - medium size ripe tomatoes cubed
1 - medium size white onion cubed
3 - cloves garlic chopped
1/2 - 1 cup - water
1/2 cup - low fat milk
1 tsp - fresh basil leaves
1 tbsp - fresh cream
1 tsp - extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
- Take a heavy bottom sauce pan and lightly brown the chopped garlic in 1 tsp of olive oil.
- Add the onions with salt and cook till translucent.
- Add the carrots, tomatoes and pepper powder and mix well. Cover and cook till the carrots are tender for about 5 -10 minutes. Let the mix cool.
- Using a food processor or blender puree the carrot tomato mix adding 1/2 to 1 cup of water.
- Return the puree to the sauce pan. Add milk and water (if needed) and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Top the soup with fresh basil and cream and enjoy with some garlic bread or pull apart bread.
- This soup is good for next day too. So I make the puree and keep them in a separate air tight container in the refrigerator. I just add milk to the puree in the morning and bring it to boil and pour in thermos for my kids for lunch with grilled cheese sandwich sticks.
- This soup is supposed to be thick and creamy, but if you want it to be less thicker increase the amount of water to reach the desired consistency.
- If you want your soup to be creamier, you can substitute the low fat milk with heavy cream.
