Roasted Carrot & Tomato Vegan Soup

I don’t know about you all, but my Holidays started in July. Lakeside. With cocktails. And I have basically been battling the healthy eating, weight maintenance, keeping-in-good-shape since then. It’s been a long Holiday season…In my efforts to lose the Holiday weight I have decided that healthy soups are going to be a prominent feature in my day-to-day life in addition to eating healthy, working out daily, and sticking to my Arbonne healthy-eating cleanse. Here’s hoping it works out!

The soup has a bit of spice to it which I think always helps when dieting for me, too. This recipe is super easy to make and can be adjusted for spice, saltiness, and even the type of stock you use. I used my Vitamix which makes it in such a snap – but any regular blender would do. In my healthy-eating, I have reverted back to avoiding dairy and gluten, however, if you’re OK with dairy – I would suggest topping it with some goat cheese crumbles!

This soup can be made with just about any size tomatoes so long as the weight is about the same. It is easy to thin this soup out to your desired consistency by simply adding more stock.

Ingredients:
– 2 pounds ripe tomatoes – I used heirloom cherry tomatoes
– 1 pound carrots – I used the multi-colored variety from Trader Joes
– 3 cloves minced garlic
– 1 cup vegetable stock – chicken stock or beef stock can be used if you’re not concerned with it being vegan
– 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
– 1 tablespoon salt (plus more to taste)
– 1/2 tablespoon coarsely ground pepper
– 1/2 tablespoon paprika
– 1/2 tablespoon finely chopped basil

Directions:
*Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees*
1. Sliced tomatoes in half and set aside in a large bowl
2. peel and slice carrots into 1/2-1″ chunks and add to tomatoes in the large bowl
3. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil on the vegetables and coat thoroughly before adding in the salt, pepper, basil, garlic, and paprika. Toss to coat.
4. Place coated tomatoes and carrots on a large baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Its important they’re all in a single layer so they roast and not just steam.
5. Once the veggies are done roasting, add them in batches to your blender (I used my Vitamix) and blend until smooth. The mixture will be thick.
6. Slowly add in the stock until your desired consistency – you can always add more to thin it out.
7. Taste test your delicious soup and adjust seasoning as needed.
8. Serve immediately and should there be any leftovers, it will be fine for a few days in the fridge!

Enjoy!