Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Why I love blended soups

Last night at the store, I spotted parsnips on sale for next to nothing.  Being American, I've never cooked with parsnips before in my life, but this deal was really too good to pass up.  So I bought several parsnips and decided to comb the internet for recipes as soon as I got home.  After just a few clicks, I found this very simple recipe for a blended carrot and parsnip soup.  With so few ingredients, how could it possibly go wrong?  It couldn't.  The soup was positively delicious.  After simmering all the ingredients together for half an hour, I whizzed it up with our stick blender (Do you all have a stick blender?  You totally should.) and it turned a wonderful light orange color and took on a smooth, thick texture.  The best part about it is that there's plenty more to store in the refrigerator for later.

I love keeping soup in the fridge.  Knowing that a hearty blended soup is there, especially during the colder months (and they're just around the corner), makes menu planning so much easier.  It also adds a touch of handmade goodness to a meal that might not be as wholesome on its own.  For example, my husband and I had burgers and fries last night for dinner - not part of our normal meal plan, it must be said, but my culinary creativeness is a bit low at the moment.  It happens to the best of us from time to time.  But I digress.  With our sinful burgers and fries, we had this fabulous, nutrient-packed soup which really rounded out the meal.  We're certainly not going to do this every night, but it is a nice option for those hurried dinners we all have sometimes.

So my dinner plan for the guys tomorrow is to have the carrot and parsnip soup (probably the last of it by that point) with a first-time recipe, bacon, pea and basil macaroni.  I hope this goes well.  We grow basil on the windowsill and the guys are good about eating peas, but that's a lot of stuff in one dish.  In my experience, the more ingredients that go into a dish, the less likely youngsters are to enjoy it.  Am I playing with fire here?  We'll find out tomorrow night.  I'll take some pictures and give a report for those of you who are interested.  I'd be so happy if this goes down well because one-dish meals are great to have in the recipe file.

2 comments:

BAS said...

You are making me sooooooo hungry and its only 10am.

Funny, had mashed carrot and parsnip with my dinner last night. Yummy

Will have to try the soup though, that sounds like a real winter warmer!

Bev

Suddenly Stepmom said...

It's a great soup and I'm sure we'll enjoy it even more once the thermometer drops. Things are already looking quite autumnal up here, so there are many more soups on the horizon!