Oh hey, 2014!

How’s week one of the new year going for everyone? We are in hibernation mode here in Ohio, which has given me lots of time to reflect on what to do with my time in the next 12 months (or rather the next 5 months, since new babies have a way of shifting your priorities).

To help me get my head on straight, I have been going through Lara Casey‘s Make It Happen series; it’s a goal-setting series that I absolutely recommend. Especially if you’re like me, AKA you have a huge desire to get your act together for the new year but have no idea where to start. I’ve got a lot of ideas swimming around in this head and Make It Happen has helped me to organize it all. So, yay, new year! And hooray for a new recipe today! Finally got off my duff and picked up my camera.

This soup was inspired by a lovely lunch I had with my friend Jillian (see how awesome she is below) at Wheat Penny here in Dayton. We sampled a little cup of their curried carrot soup to start our meal; it was grand. I love that curry powder gives such a distinct, comforting taste but doesn’t make things too spicy. For my at-home version, I used all the orange veggies we had on hand- carrots, butternut squash and sweet potato. Pumpkin would also work well; you can use what you have in any combination.

This soup works for a whole variety of diets and is almost impossible to mess up. It would be great with some crumbled bacon on top, or even some homemade croutons. You could kick up the spice by adding some thai red curry paste, too.

And beyond tasting good, this soup has great nutritional benefits:

• Healthy, filling fats
• Cold/Flu-fighting onions, garlic and turmeric
• Orange veggies filled with Vitamin A to boost the immune system
• Bone broth; rich in gelatin, vitamins and minerals and anti-inflammatory

A special thanks to my sweet friends Jillian and Megan for making this post happen- they came over to my house today and did all my dishes PLUS cleaned my fridge! It was amazing, and it motivated me to pull out the camera and get this post up. A clean kitchen = no excuses for this lady. Thanks, girls- you are such a blessing to me! I am ready to re-pay you in soup.

5.0 from 3 reviews

Curried Winter Soup with Carrot, Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash

 

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Author: Oven Love

Recipe type: Soup, Main Dish, Appetizer

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• a few tablespoons quality fat (grass-fed butter, ghee, coconut oil, lard, tallow)
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced (optional)
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• ½-1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 tablespoon turmeric (optional)
• 6-8 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 large butternut squash; peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped (you can substitute more carrots or squash if you’re on GAPS or avoiding starches)
• 4-6 cups of bone broth (enough to cover the veggies in the pot)
• plain whole milk yogurt, for serving (optional, you can substitute full-fat coconut milk if you’re dairy-free)

Instructions

1. In a large stockpot or dutch oven, melt down the fat. Add the onions and garlic and saute until they begin to soften. Add the spices and let cook a few more minutes.
2. Add the carrots, squash and sweet potato to the pot, followed by the bone broth. Add enough broth to cover all of the vegetables. Bring it all to a boil.
3. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are fork-tender, about 20-30 minutes. When the veggies are soft, use an immersion blender to blend the soup until smooth.
4. Serve warm with a generous drizzle of yogurt.

#version#

As you probably know, I’ve been working on healing some stomach problems (are you tired of hearing about it yet? haha). The first time I read about the healing power of bone broth was through the Weston A. Price Foundation. It made a lot of sense to me- finally I understood why homemade chicken soup was said to be such a good remedy! Then I did more research and found the GAPS diet, which is big on bone broth and affirmed everything else I had read. I won’t go into detail about all of the benefits here (check out the links at the end of the post), but I did want to explain my broth routine and what I’ve learned along the way.

When I drink broth:

• With most meals, to help with digestion.
• In the morning before breakfast (if I’m not ready to eat yet).
• When I go out and I’m not sure if there will be any food that I can eat, but don’t have time to pack food.
• When I have stomach pain.

Really, I could drink it anytime. I usually sip it from a mug like I would drink tea. I drink it plain, with sea salt, or sometimes I stir in a spoonful of coconut oil or grass-fed butter (sounds weird, but it tastes really good and helps keep me feeling full. Just stir it around with a spoon as you’re drinking it so your lips don’t get oily!)

How I make broth:

• For chicken: I typically cook a whole chicken (roast or boil), pick off most of the meat and then put the bones and skin in the crockpot. I cover the bones with filtered water and cook on low for a day or two. Sometimes I add salt, sometimes I forget. Sometimes I add peppercorns or a few bay leaves or vegetable peelings, but usually I keep it simple. Sometimes I add a tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar, as well (to help get even more nutrients out of the bones). Don’t be alarmed if the vinegar makes the broth a bit cloudy.
• For beef: I usually get beef bones that are meant specifically for broth/soup, so I’ll just throw them in the slow cooker or a pot, remove any meat and add it to a soup (since it’s not a a lot of meat) and then return the bones and continue cooking the broth.
• For fish: I can’t get sustainable whole fish around here, so I haven’t done this myself, but if I did, I would stick the bones and the head in a pot/crock pot with the same method. (I don’t think I would really drink this one on it’s own- probably just use it for soups).

My Broth Tips:

• I never throw away bones- I store them in the freezer along with vegetable clippings (onions, carrot and celery) if I’m not making broth right away or if I only have a few bones.
• Try to include some skin (for the fat) and the joints of the animal if you can- the joints help to create gelatin (especially wing tips/knuckle bones, etc).
• Don’t be afraid if your broth looks like jelly after it cools down. That’s a good thing! Gelatin is very nourishing and it will return to liquid state when you heat it.
• You can roast the bones before you use them for stock if you want deeper flavor or a darker broth.
• Store broth in the refrigerator (it will keep for a few weeks) or freezer. I like to use glass jars.
• Reheat broth on the stove so you don’t kill the nutrients (as opposed to the microwave). It’s a pain when you’re in a hurry, but I do it in a small saucepan or in a tea kettle.
• There will be a layer of fat at the top of your broth (see above)- this is a good thing! It is full of good nutrition, don’t throw it away! It will melt down into the broth when you heat it up.
• Be careful not to burn your mouth on hot broth. Broth smells so good cooking in my house and I like to scoop cups of it right out of the slow cooker, but it is REALLY HOT. Wait for fresh broth to cool down a bit.

Anyone else out there drinking broth? I can’t be the only one! Are you intimidated by the process! Please feel free to comment with your questions and I’ll gladly answer. If you’re interested in learning more about bone broth, here are some links I’ve found helpful:

Bone Broth: 12 Days of Gelatin

Perpetual Soup: The Easiest Bone Broth You’ll Make

Traditional Foods 101: Bone broth, Broth and Stocks

How to Make Health Boosting Bone Broth

Top 5 Reasons Bone Broth is The Bomb

The Wonders of Gelatin and How to Get More in Your Stock