Carrot Soup

John and I have joined our church in a corporate fast for 21 Days. We are basically using  a Daniel Fast of fruits, vegetables and nuts. We did this last year too and actually so enjoyed the days and motivation to eat such healthy food.  We used many good Paleo Soup recipes, but I failed to save them or add them to my Fabufit Recipe Book. This year I am keeping up with our favorites. Our first week’s favorite by far has been the Carrot Soup, which I found at one of my very favorite Paleo websites: Elanaspantry.com. I give this one a 5 star and plan to incorporate this into our menu every couple of weeks even when our fast is over.

I wonder how hard it is to grow carrots. This would be ideal to have locally grown organic carrots.

Ingredients

• 2 TBLS melted coconut oil
• 1 small Onion, peeled and chopped
• 5 Large Organic Carrots, chopped
• 1 Green Apple, chopped
• 1/2 ounce Fresh Ginger chopped
• 1/3 Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice
• 1 Can Full Fat Coconut Milk
• 2 Cups Bone Broth (the recipe called for Chicken Stock or water, but I used Bone Broth)
• 1/8 Tsp. Cayenne Pepper  (I used fine White Pepper)
• 6 Drops Stevia (I put a dropper full and it was so good)

Instructions

1. Heat oil in large saucepan
2. Saute onion, carrot and apple in the oil until it is tender
3. Add fresh ginger (This may have been my first time to use real ginger root versus the powder spice. Loved it!)
4. Add the liquids (except pepper and stevia) to the saucepan and mix thoroughly. (Here is where I changed this a little for ease and for using my Blendtec)
   I did not add all of the Bone Broth so I could transfer about 2/3 of the soup to the Blendtec and puree the mixture. I then added the rest of the bone broth that is still cool to the Blendtec. This made it safer to blend all in the blender.
5. Once mixed, add the ingredients back into the saucepan with the remaining 1/3 of the vegetable, apple mixture. (The actual recipe called for puree of all of the ingredients, but we loved the texture on the other 1/3 in the soup.)
6. Reheat, stirring in the pepper and stevia.

Here are Just a Few Health Benefits of Carrots 

1.  Improves vision
There’s some truth in the old wisdom that carrots are good for your eyes. Carrots are rich in beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A in the liver. Vitamin A is transformed in the retina, to rhodopsin, a purple pigment necessary for night vision.

Beta-carotene has also been shown to protect against macular degeneration and senile cataracts. A study found that people who eat large amounts of beta-carotene had a 40 percent lower risk of macular degeneration than those who consumed little.

2.  Helps prevent cancer
Studies have shown carrots reduce the risk of lung cancer, breast cancer and colon cancer.

Falcarinol is a natural pesticide produced by the carrot that protects its roots from fungal diseases. Carrots are one of the only common sources of this compound. A study showed 1/3 lower cancer risk by carrot-eating rats.

3.  Slows down aging 
The high level of beta-carotene in carrots acts as an antioxidant to cell damage done to the body through regular metabolism. It help slows down the aging of cells. (Taken from Care2.com)