EVERYTHING BUT THAT!

THIS SOUP IS SO GOOD!!!!!!!!

If all of the recipes from my new Eat-Clean Diet Cook­book, are as good as this one, I am going to be one happy, well-fed, healthy lady.

Ingre­di­ents:

• 10–12 medium sweet red bell pep­pers, halved, seeds discarded
• 3 Tbsp olive oil, rice bran oil, or avo­cado oil
• 1 medium yel­low onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 large sweet car­rot, peeled and diced
• 2 large cloves gar­lic, peeled and crushed
• 1 medium Yukon Gold potato or sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 2 tsp fresh thyme
• 1 Tbsp fresh basil
• 4 cups low-sodium, low-fat chicken or veg­etable stock (gluten free if necessary)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• sea salt and fresh ground black pep­per tp taste
• 1 basil leaf (for garnish)
• A dol­lop of low-fat plain yogurt (for garnish)

Prepa­ra­tion:

1. Pre­heat broiler.  Place red pep­pers cut side down on bak­ing sheet(s).  Lightly coat the out­side of each pep­per with oil of choice.  Place bak­ing sheet(s) under the broiler and cook until the skins blacken.  Remove the broiler and place all pep­pers in a large bowl imme­di­ately.  Cover tightly with plas­tic wrap.  This helps the pep­pers sweat, which loosens the skins.  Wait until the pep­pers are cool enough to han­dle and gen­tly remove the skin from each.  Put skinned pep­pers in a bowl and set aside.
2. In a Dutch oven or stock pot, heat 1 Tbsp oil of choice over medium heat.  Add the onions and car­rot and cook until the onion is soft and translu­cent.  Add the gar­lic and saute briefly.  Add potato or sweet potato, herbs, stock, skinned, roasted pep­pers, and bay leaves.  Sim­mer until all veg­eta­bles are soft.  When ready, remove the bay leaves and puree the soup until it is smooth.  Add vine­gar and cayenne pep­per.  Sea­son with salt and black pep­per  Gar­nish with fresh basil leaf and serve immediately.

Notes:

I used a sweet potato, and the dol­lop of yogurt should not be optional because it com­ple­ments the soup extremely well.  I had some con­cerns about peel­ing the red pep­pers — it took me a long time and I wasn’t sure I was doing it right; I didn’t know how black they needed to be.  Ulti­mately, how­ever, the soup was a smash­ing suc­cess.  I could not stop eat­ing it — and I don’t nor­mally even like red peppers! 

This is a great soup to serve on a cold, win­ter day.  It is spunky and adds pizazz!