Caribbean Carrot Soup

We make two soups every day at Dish... Real Food. It is how I start my day at the shop. I've been making soup forever - but it wasn't until it became one of the main focuses of my "to do" list that I realized how much I like making it. We may come to a point where I don't have the luxury of using what inspires me on a daily basis but for now, I simply look around the kitchen and use what's on hand to start.

We try to make at least one of our daily soups Gluten-Free and/or Paleo and this soup definitely fits both of those categories. Because carrots have a bit of starchiness to them, they have soup thickening qualities you would normally use flour (an obvious gluten-free and Paleo no-no) or potatoes (a Paleo rule-breaker) for thickening. We have made this soup with carrots and also with sweet potatoes. Both are delish - but the sweet potato tends to be a bit more popular at the shop.

This recipe falls in the "few simple ingredients" category. The carrots are obviously the star of the show - but you can absolutely use another vegetable (possibly with a few additional spices).

2 cups onions, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 inch piece ginger
2 whole cloves garlic
1 teaspoon curry
3-4 cups stock, vegetable or chicken
4 cups carrots (or sweet potatoes)
1 cup orange juice
1 can coconut milk

In a heavy stock pot, saute the onions, garlic and ginger about 10 minutes. 


Add the curry, stock and vegetables and bring to boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are fork-tender, about 20 minutes.

Add the orange juice and coconut milk. Puree with a hand blender and season to taste.

Ack - No Pics (Salsa Bean Dip)

This is a cheater post. I did a Mexican Fiesta for friends on the weekend.

We had a Salsa Bean Dip, Fajitas, Guacamole. There was sangria and margaritas. I took exactly zero photos. In terms of eating, it was pretty good. In terms of blogging, an epic fail.

I'm determined to be a better food blogger. On that vein, I'm gonna have my phone at my side for the next few weeks so there won't be an excuse NOT to take pics.

We shall see (ha - literally) where that takes us in the kitchen.

In the meanwhile, you could see my guacamole blog post here.

And... see a pic of the tasty margaritas we drank here:

I'm going to give you the recipe for the Salsa, Bean Dip here - but there are no pics so please forgive their absence. It is EXTREMELY flexible so feel free to play around with it.

Salsa Bean Dip

1/2 jar salsa (I jar my own but you can use your favourite store-bought one)

about 1/2 cup "red" salad dressing (Catalina, California, etc.)

1/2 can lentils

1/2 can black beans (you could use kidney or white)

1/4 minced onion (I usually use red but Spanish is good too)

1 bell pepper, chopped (yesterday I had yellow but any colour is fine)

3/4 cup corn kernels (optional - I didn't use them yesterday)

Handful herbs, chopped (I detest cilantro but if you dig it, it would rock in this recipe)

Combine and let sit for about an hour so the flavours can combine.

Baby It's Cold Outside

I know I live in Canada and we're supposed to suck it up and be fine with winter but WOW it was cold today. It was our first day at the shop this new year and I was hoping to get outside to look at the amazing new sign - but I'll have to gaze at Noella's handiwork another day. Minus 26 with the windchill is just not cool. 

I get that this is not an awesome angle but seriously people, it was too cold to take a pic.

Your errant blogger was busy starting Dish...Real Food last month but I'm fairly optimistic you'll see more of me in the coming weeks. We're testing out a slew of different recipes and will be able to offer some choices for a wider variety of our customers, including those of you who want/need "gluten-free", some of the "cavemen" out there and, perhaps no surprise here, people looking to make more health-conscious choices as part of a new year regime. 

I've never really been a New Year's Resolution kind of girl - mostly because I tend to have questionable will power at the best of times. It could be said when I "have" to do something, it makes it that much more tempting not to!

I'm VERY excited that cooking classes start this month. Thursdays have beat out the other nights of the week and the first class is scheduled to start January 19th. I'll blog more details as soon as they become available.