Carrot Ginger Soup

Winter is the best time of the year in Japan in my opinion!  Clear  blue skies are more days then not. Today in particular was very warm. Wearing long tights and two top layers during my run was a big mistake. I was sweaty mess and face was red as can be when I got back home. I'm not complaining though. Its the end of December and I hope these lovely days will never end!

Sometime in the late noon it starts getting a little chilly. Especially in the house. Unfortunately, we only get sunlight between 9-10 in the morning and the rest of the day its pretty dark around here. In an effort to conserve energy and not use the heater as much as possible, I'm almost always wearing a scarf from the moment I wake up and layers are the norm. The problem with me is my hands are always cold. I may need to start wearing fingerless gloves in the house.

Luckily today, I had a nice remedy to warm me up. SOUP! I made carrot ginger soup last night and its Motozo approved! He even went back for seconds and if I say so myself, it is pretty damn good!
I had an excess of carrots from last week and got another fresh batch yesterday, so soup was the answer to use up lots of carrots.  I ended up only using 3, but that's way more then we'd normally eat in one meal!

If you like ginger, carrots, and orange this might be just up your alley! At first I wasn't crazy about the orange flavor, but it started to grow on me and the soup tasted heavenly the next day. I love ginger and enjoy it every single day in my green smoothie. This was a perfect way to add more into my diet! Its warming and very soothing on the stomach.

Adapted from here

Ingredients:

• 4 heaping cups of chopped carrots
• 1/2 small purple onion (I would have used yellow if I had any)
• 1/4 cup fresh ginger, minced
• 3 cups vegetable broth (I used non-salted)
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

 In a large pot, I sauteed ginger and onion in the olive oil just until everything was evenly coated with the oil. Next I added the chopped carrots, stirring for a minute or 2. Added the vegetable broth and simmered it on medium heat until the carrots soften.
I worked in 2 batches and blended the carrots up in the blender with just enough broth to puree it smooth. Returned the puree carrots back into the pot along with the rest of the broth and added the orange juice. Heated everything up briefly and seasoned with salt as desired.

The original recipe called for WAY more orange juice and I'm so glad I didn't put that much in or it would have tasted like orange soup rather then carrot.
This was really wonderful and its definitely going to be a regular. The good thing is, it can be enjoyed cold or warm, so even in the summer this would be delightful! I love it when a recipe turns out just right! :)

Later today I was in the mood for baking! I didn't actually feel like eating anything sweet or eating anything at all, but just the action of mixing flour, sugar etc together can be quite therapeutic sometimes. Yes, I baked today for therapy, I'm weird like that. But I also wanted to use my new silicon muffin cups! Aren't they adorable!

These turned out much better then I thought they would. I used the standard Crazy chocolate cake because it NEVER fails and uses minimum ingredients. I spiced it up though by adding shredded coconut and goji berries. The end result was a moist and almost brownie like cake with a good chew from the coconuts. Oh, it was good!

Good timing for me to bake too because we had a horde of guys come over for poker. 
Let me tell you, they were a HUGE hit with the guys! A few guys went back for seconds and I even over heard one guy telling another that he wants to take the left over cakes home with him. :-)

As for poker I have no idea whats going on there, but I have my fingers crossed  that hubby dear will win us a fortune. :)
Tomorrow is national holiday so we'll be sleeping in and taking it nice and easy. woohoo!

Good night and sweet dreams to all.