Sunday, January 25, 2015

Carrot Ginger Cashew Cream Soup




A staple for my weekday lunches at work is a beautiful yummy flavourful soup.
I can whip up a huge batch of one of my fav soup recipes, portion size in mason jars and I have a week of healthy food ready to go. 
The real fun begins when you get fancy with toppings something simple like a  great big squeeze of lemon or lime juice, adding a lot of something green like micro greens & cilantro, even some crumbled fetta  YUM!
Tomorrows lunch basket has homemade corn tortillas left over from fish tacos.  They are great on the side or toasted and cut into long strips and sprinkled on top.

The cashew cream is a trick that you will be so happy to learn.  
Start by Soaking 3/4 cup of cashews over night or even when you think about making this soup pop them in water…the longer they soak the creamier your final product will be.  
Once soaked the cashews will be quite soft.  
Drain off the water you soaked the nuts in, add to your blender with 1 cup of fresh water, blend till creamy…you may have to stop the blender to push the goodies down to the blades a few times.  End result is a think cream you can add to lots of different dishes to create the look and feel of 'cream' but this version is dairy free…perfect for an Arbonne cleanse when we want to eliminate dairy. 

SO here is the recipe!

A simple Carrot Soup For Clean Eating!
serves 4

2 tablespoons unsalted butter or extra-virgin coconut oil
1 onion, chopped 
              1 clove Garlic, minced
2 pounds carrots, peeled and chopped - 1/2-inch chunks
              1 Cup Celery, chopped               

              1 thumb sized chunk of Fresh ginger, diced 
       
              1 good dollop of Cashew Cream :)
1 1/2 cups / 360 ml of water, or to cover
In a large soup pan over medium-high heat add the butter and onion. Stir until the onions are well-coated, and allow to sauté until translucent, a few minutes. Add shopped celery, carrots, and the ginger. Allow to cook another minute or two, and then add the cashew cream, salt, and water, adding more water to cover if needed. Allow to simmer until the carrots are tender, 10 - 15 minutes, and then puree using a blender or hand blender until the soup is completely silky smooth. This next part is important (with any soup) - make any needed adjustments. Add more water if the consistency needs to be thinned out a bit.

A quick way to cheat at this without having to make the cashew cream is just to soak your cashews then add them to your soup near the end.  The cashews will blend up nicely…to be honest this is how I did it today so the pictures you can see the cashews are creamed but could be totally undetectable if you make the cashew cream before hand.

PS 
Search "cashew cream" on my blog to turn up another great soup recipe with cashew cream :)

Enjoy!!!!

xoxo 
Ashie Girl