Creamy Carrot Soup

As much as I love sweets, sometimes I crave vegetables. Recently, I’ve been craving carrots. Maybe because they remind me of Spring. Carrots are naturally sweet and nutrient rich. What’s not to love?

I decided to create a new soup. It had to be simple, because I didn’t want to spend a lot of time on it. I was really downright lazy with this recipe. I was working fast when I made it and didn’t stop to write down ingredients. This is a very loosely pulled together recipe based on what I remember. The amounts are not exact.

But it’s good at demonstrating that homemade soup can be quick. You can make it spur of the moment with what you have. I used the last of the POM Pomegranate Juice for some added antioxidants and flavor. Use butter or margarine, if you don’t use Smart Balance. Use olive oil if you don’t have grapeseed oil, or just increase the amount of butter, etc. Substitute with similar ingredients.

This carrot soup may be the best soup that I ever made. Both G and I loved it! I kept meaning to photograph it again, but we ate it all before I got the chance. I’ll be making this soup again soon.

Creamy Carrot Soup
(makes about 2 quarts)

8-10 medium carrots (washed + skin peeled off)
sweet white onion (roughly chopped)
4-5 cups chicken broth
1/8 cup ground ginger
1 T lemon pepper
2 T garlic powder
salt to taste
1/8 cup brown sugar
½ cup POM Pomegranate Juice
1/8 cup grapeseed oil
1/8 cup Smart Balance

Use a large pan that has a cover. Add the Smart Balance and oil to the pan and turn up the heat. Cut the carrots into thirds and add with the onions to the pan. Sauté onions until soft and light brown.

Pour POM Juice over carrots and onions and cook until juice is almost fully absorbed. Add ground ginger, garlic powder, lemon pepper, salt, brown sugar and cover with chicken broth. Stir ingredients. Cover and turn down heat a bit. Let simmer until the carrots are soft. Let cool. Use an immersion blender to cream the soup. Enjoy!

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Color + Design by POM

This Wednesday, April 22nd, is Earth Day. I recycle already, but have been trying to find ways to reuse things too. "These are the perfect shape and size!", were two things that I thought immediately upon opening the package of POM Wonderful bottles. I always need small bottles to root plants. Since they will be out in the open for display for a period of time, I want them to look nice.

In general, I also like to have containers like these to double as portable flower vases. You never know where or when you'll want to bring some flowers. So, if you buy POM's pomegranate juice, after you drink the juice, wash out the bottles and keep them to use for later.

Another way to use Pom Wonderful's juice is to naturally color frosting. I always feel a little odd using food coloring. They contain more chemicals than I even want to think about. With the arrival of Spring, I've been thinking pink. And as always cupcakes.



I could use POM's juice as a natural way to color the frosting pink and get a nice bit of extra flavor too. I used this chocolate cupcake recipe and the frosting recipe below.



POM Pink Cupcake Frosting

1 tsp. POM Wonderful pomegranate juice
1 cup powdered sugar
pinch of salt
heaping 1/8 cup Smart Balance (softened)

Combine ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir very well until smooth. Frost cupcakes. Enjoy!


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POM Wonderful Tea + Cookies

Recently, POM Wonderful contacted me and asked if I’d like to try their 100% percent pomegranate juice and share my thoughts. They sent me several bottles, and I was really excited to try it.

Over the last few years, I’ve read that drinking pomegranate juice is one of the best ways to get anti-oxidants. And I’m always trying to get as many anti-oxidants as I can get. Thank you POM Wonderful!

As I write, I’m sipping some of the juice now mixed with some ginger ale. It’s very good and quite refreshing. Now most of you know that I have a serious sweet tooth. Pomegranate juice is quite tart, so I didn’t like drinking the juice straight. Although, G loves it! I had to ask him not to drink all the juice, because I want to experiment with it.

How many ways can I use pomegranate juice? I’m not sure. We’ll see. I’ll be using POM Wonderful’s juice in all sorts of things and blogging about it over the next couple of weeks.

The other night it was a bit cool out, so I decided to make some hot tea. I often add lemon juice and honey to tea, so this time I decided to add POM Wonderful and honey. It was great! And I was giddy imagining all those tea and pomegranate anti-oxidants going to town!

I may have neutralized the positive effect with the Lemon Butter Cookies, but they sure were good! I took some serious liberties with this recipe to make them quickly, à la World Peace Cookies – Impatient Version. But it worked. I’ll be making these goodies again soon.

Lemon Butter Cookies
{Adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini- makes about one dozen cookies}

Scant ½ cup Smart Balance (softened)
Zest of one lemon
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 egg yolk
1 cup + 2T all-purpose flour

In a medium bowl combine Smart Balance, sugar, lemon zest. Add salt, egg yolk and combine. Stir in flour. The dough should be easy to handle. Roll into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. Enjoy!


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