40 Days of Clean Eating: Roasted Carrot and Red Pepper Soup

Day 19 of 40

Originally posted on Cooking Up Clean [Photo credit: Kari Lund]

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 60 min

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

• 1½ – 2 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced into ½” rounds
• 1 medium onion, sliced into ½” rounds
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into large chunks
• 1 head garlic, papery skin removed and top end chopped off
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil for roasting
• 6 cups vegetable stock (or chicken stock)
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

For the pesto:

• 1 cup carrot greens (or kale), chopped
• ½ cup basil, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place bell pepper, carrots, onion, and head of garlic on baking sheet and sprinkle with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
3. Roast veggies for 30-40 minutes until tender and lightly browned in spots. Watch carefully so they don’t burn.
4. When veggies are tender, place in a large stockpot with remaining ingredients and pureé with a stick (immersion) blender. Alternately, you can use a blender to pureé ingredients and then transfer to the pot.
5. Cook together for another 15-20 minutes until nice and bubbly.
6. While soup is cooking, make the pesto. Toss all pesto ingredients into a food processor and pureé.
7. Serve piping hot with pesto on top. Can also place a dollop of plain Greek yogurt (or plain coconut milk yogurt) on top.

Notes: Leftovers can be refrigerated or frozen.

Another satisfying clean eating recipe:

40 Days of Clean Eating: Broccoli and Chicken Salad