Root Veggie Soup

This recipe uses root vegetables like parsnips or turnips to make a delicious veggie soup!

Ingredients:

• Butter or oil
• 1 diced onion
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp of thyme
• ½ of an apple
• ½ lb of parsnips or turnip
• ½ lb of carrots
• 4 cups of water
• ½ tsp cardamom
• ¼ tsp white pepper
• ½ cup heavy cream
• Salt to taste

Garnish: toasted hazelnuts or walnuts

Directions:

1. Cut up all the vegetables and the apple into bite-size pieces or thin slices for faster cooking (everything will be blended in the end). It’s always good to prep everything before starting to cook to prevent burning the veggies.
    
2. Add butter or oil to the bottom of a large pot to coat the bottom. Add onions to the pot and sauté on medium for about 7 minutes or until soft and browned. Kiddos – you can help by stirring the pot as you’re waiting to prevent burning!
    
3. Turn heat to low. Add garlic, thyme, apple, parsnips, and carrots to the pot. Cover and let everything marinate for 10-15 minutes.
    
4. Add water. Turn heat to high and wait for the water to boil, then return heat to medium. Keep the pot covered with occasional stirring, and cook for about 15 minutes or until the veggies are soft.
    
5. Take the soup and blend. Use either an immersion blender or a kitchen blender. With supervision, this can be a lot of fun for the kids to do, slowly ladling the soup contents into the blender. You may choose to skip this step if you would like to keep the current texture of the soup. Keep the pot on low heat while blending to keep the soup warm.
    
6. Add spices and cream. Mix together and the soup is ready to serve. Serve warm with a garnish of toasted hazelnuts or walnuts.
    

And that’s all! A very simple soup recipe, and something that you can easily scale up to allow for leftovers!