Love for Food

After my parents left I did an inventory of the fridge. I'm not use to the fridge being so full! I wanted to make sure I ate all the stuff that might go bad first. I notice a huge bag of carrots left over. Huh. What to do with all those carrots! Sure there are many things you can use them for... but I had so many. We had gotten a five pound bag and much of it was left over. Even though my freezer was full of soups, I decided to look for a carrot soup recipe. I could eat some and freeze the rest for later. I choose this carrot chili and cilantro soup recipe because I love the bold flavor of the chili. Cilantro is also my favorite herb. But most importantly, I had all of the ingredients needed to make this soup without a trip to the store. The ingredients are items that would have gotten old and thrown out if not used. The recipe can be found here, on All Recipes.com. I was a little skeptical about how this soup would turn out. I was pleased with the bold flavor. I squeezed in a little lime on my bowl to add some freshness. The thick texture sat nicely in my stomach on a cold, windy day. Another plus for the thick texture was how full my tummy was on almost no calories. Not to mention how healthy the soup is with all those carrots. This is not my favorite soup of all time but I plan on making this again. It was satisfying on a cold day, healthy, and great for those New Year's resolutions to eat better and loose weight. Ingredients: Serves Eight cooking spray (i.e PAM) 1 tablespoon crushed garlic 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 2 tablespoon chili powder 1 teaspoon cumin 1 onion, chopped 6 large carrots, peeled and chopped (about two pounds) 4 cups water (or veggie broth) Method:

• Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Heat garlic, chili powder and cumin. Saute onion until tender. Stir in carrots; cook 5 minutes and then pour in water.
• Simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, or until carrots are soft. Add cilantro.With a hand blender, blend until smooth.