Gluten-Free, Vegetarian Recipe: Carrot Ginger Soup

This seems like an appropriate one to post for Easter. It's very simple and really, really tasty.

So, for about 6 servings, you'll need:

- About 5 medium-ish-sized carrots
- Around 1 1/2 cups of vegetable stock or a bouillon cube
- Half a large Spanish onion or a whole smaller one
- Several cloves of garlic to taste; I used 7 or 8 because I find it's much weaker in Asia
- Ginger to taste, perhaps three or four pieces the size of large coins
- Some Earth Balance or another buttery substitute

First you'll want to get your small amount of veggie broth heating up; it should be just enough to use to cook the carrots. While it's heating to a simmer, peel and roughly chop the carrots.

After tossing the carrots in and covering the simmering pot, dice the onion and mince the garlic and ginger. This is quick and easy with the food processor; just add a tiny bit of olive oil if you're having trouble.

Sautee the garlic, ginger and onions in a large pan until they start to become transparent. At this point your carrots should be about cooked, and when they are, remove them from the pot while preserving the broth in whatever way you can with what's at hand, letting it continue to simmer.
Add the carrots to the pan and toss everything to mix it.

Then, bit by bit if necessary, add the vegetable mix to the food processor and blend into a paste like so:

Add the blended paste mixture to the simmering vegetable broth, and then add a creamy non-dairy substitute or real butter until smooth and rich. It shouldn't take much.

I made roasted herbed potatoes and a Southwestern-style spicy bean and avocado salad with my soup, but I'm pretty sure it would go well with just about anything.

Garnish with slivers of ginger, a little parsley, and powdered black pepper on top.