Roasted Vegetable Soup

We're still alive over here.

I could apologize and try to make excuses for the fact that the last time I updated was over 10 days ago, and for still not having posted pictures of the house yet. But honestly, I'm not that sorry. Because I just plain haven't had the energy to give WMH the lovin' I wish I could. And because all the busy-ness of our new job and the exhaustion that comes with big transition has been so worth our hectic lifestyle for the past 3 weeks.

I'm not going to lie... the house is in complete disarray. There are laundry piles everywhere. We have no food in the refrigerator. (Thursday night, I fed Bryan 2 hardboiled eggs for dinner. How's that for pathetic?) We currently have a 5-foot grill living in our dining room. And there are still probably 10 boxes that haven't been opened since move-in day.

It is what it is. And the truth is, I've come home at the end of each day too plum tired to try and hang art on the walls, vacuum the stairwell, clean the guest bathroom, or cook a 5-star meal. So a disaster we will remain, until slowly but surely I'm able to tackle small obstacles until it looks like humans live here again... Which hopefully isn't too far away because my family is coming in a week, and I would like to at least appear to be a responsible adult :)

Anyway... enough of all that. I did want to share at least one small victory with you: I did manage to cook something this week: roasted vegetable soup. It's one of my favorite fall meals, and though it's still very much like summer out here, my intention was to make it and freeze the soup in small batches for a quick dinner after an especially long day.

There isn't really a tried and true recipe for this soup, which is part of why I love it so much. You can make it with what you have, or change the ratio of vegetables to achieve a different flavor.  I got the idea/recipe from my friend Ann while we were serving together in the Middle East. She would make it for our whole team when we'd have "family dinners."


Roasted Vegetable Soup


(This time I used)
4 tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
3 carrots
1/2 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
Chicken stock

Cut the vegetables into manageable sizes (1/4 the tomatoes, 1/3 the carrots...). Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Talk about easy!

Roast the vegetables in 425 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Stir every 10-15 minutes. You will end up with a beautifully caramelized, blistered, juicy pan of vegetables.

Allow to cool slightly (~10 minutes) and transfer to a large, tall sided pot. 

Then, get out your immersion blender. Add some broth to the vegetables (I used chicken because I had it on hand, but you could use veggie stock, or even vegetable juice if you wanted), about 1/2 cup at a time. Start blending down the chunks until you start to get a soupy consistency.

Then you keep slowly adding liquid and blending until you're left with a thick, creamy soup!

Like I said, I chose to freeze mine this time, but I love it served with some crunchy croutons (a la Panera's Creamy Tomato Soup) or fresh, crusty french bread. It's so healthy and SO easy. And you can go heavy on the flavors you love and leave out the ones you don't.