Roasted Vegetable Soup

Well...apparently my readers are fans of soup! So here's a second recipe for the week! Made this one for supper last night...and all four of us were huge fans of it! I often grab a bunch of veggies from our fridge, steam them, puree them, add some broth with a little seasoning and attempt to make soup. Sometimes it's amazing, sometimes....it's just soup. Last night I decided to try roasting the veggies first...and let me tell you, it was worth the extra effort! This soup is so simple for the amount of flavour you get...you must try it! It tastes gourmet...seriously...a great and simple way to wow some company:) You'd pay top dollar in a grocery store or restaurant for this soup! Fancy grilled cheese would be a great add-on to this meal! Garnished mine with fresh ground pepper and a swirl of homemade spinach humus:)

Roasted Vegetable Soup

INGREDIENTS

6 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed into 2-inch chunks
4 carrots, cut into large chunks
4 parsnips, cut into large chunks
1 bundle of celery, cut into chunks
2 sweet red peppers, seeded
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp nutmeg
1 bulb garlic, peeled
2 boxes of chicken or vegetable stock

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Prepare all vegetables and garlic.

Toss lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper, and nutmeg. Place veggies and garlic cloves in baking dish...it may take more than one...lightly cover with tin foil so the veggies don't dry out.

Roast in oven for 40-45 minutes. Veggies and garlic should looks nice and caramelized...and be soft enough to puree.

Let cool slightly. Puree using food processor, in batches, gradually adding stock.

Pour pureed soup/stock mixture into a large pot and heat. ENJOY!

*This soup tastes even better the next day...and freezes amazing!

Lasagna Soup

Wanna know something funny? I actually use my own blog when making my meal plan each week and writing up my grocery list! So YES...this is really how we eat all the time!! I hadn't even really noticed I do this until Jay caught me the other day...we both had a good laugh over it.

On that note...remember the challenge I put out there back in January to eat better...plan better...and save a few bucks each month? How are you doing at that? I know in our house it's made a huge difference! I now shop intentionally for groceries by planning all meals, and only buying at the store what is on my list. I've found we can sometimes even go 8 or 9 days with out stopping in at the store again. And by making the list, I don't forget anything! Those quick stops to pick up the one thing I was missing...like eggs or cilantro, two or three times a week...would quickly add up to an additional $10 or $20 a stop because I would be swayed by things on sale, or easy snacks that looked tasty! I've for sure saved about $20-$30 a WEEK this year by planning our meals.

I still often feel that it's pricey to feed our family of four. We were talking about it on the weekend though and decided to break it down per person, per day. We buy everything organic or all-natural, we value that. For our family, it came to about $6-$7 per person, per DAY. That's NOT bad if you saw how amazing we eat!! Not bad when you consider that's the price of a daily venti fancy Starbucks, which we don't buy...the price of a husband grabbing a quick sandwich to-go for lunch, which Jay doesn't do...the price of a magazine at the til in the grocery store (for the record I would LOVE to always buy a food/cooking magazine at the til, but am too cheap to pay the price)! So, we've cut out some luxuries so our kids will grow healthy and strong...worth every penny:)

Alright...on to the soup! This one is SOOO yummy...our boys love it too! Ripped this recipe out of a magazine once...I believe it was Rachael Ray?...and pulled it out of my recipe stash one day to try...I've made it many times since. Pretty quick to whip together...about 30 minutes. This batch makes enough for two meals for us...and actually tastes better the second time around:) ENJOY!




Lasagna Soup

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb ground beef - we use grass-fed
Salt and pepper
1 onion, finely chopped
4 carrots, finely chopped or grated
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 or 5 handfuls of fresh spinach, finely chopped
4 cups chicken broth
One 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 lb lasagna noodles, broken into jagged pieces - I use brown rice lasagna
1 cup basil leaves, torn
1 cup ricotta

Directions

In a soup pot, heat the olive over medium heat. Add the beef, season with pepper and cook until browned, 3 to 4 minutes.

Stir in the onion, carrots and garlic and cook until softened, about 7 minutes. Add the spinach and let cook-down for a minute or two with the lid on.

Stir in 2 cups water, the chicken broth and tomatoes...cover and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 15 minutes. Stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper.

Serve the soup in bowls with a spoonful of ricotta on top.

*We love to sprinkle ours with fresh parmesan too!