Seven day Struggle Part One: Fancy Carrot Ginger Soup with Parsnip Chips

Well, the week marches on and our supplies continue to dwindle. For dinner tonight I raided the fridge and decided to turn lemons to lemonade. Or the remainder of a giant bag of carrots to fancy carrot soup, as it were.

For the Soup
2 Tbsp ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp blood orange olive oil (or regular olive oil)
2 cups broth
1/2 cup almond milk
2 1/2-3 lbs carrots (10-12 medium large), chopped
thin part of one parsnip
1 pickled jalapeno minced(or fresh)
1 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp coriander
salt to taste

For the Creme Fraische
1/2 cup vegan creme cheese
juice of 1/2 a lime
1 Tbs almond milk

For the Tangy Ginger Cilantro Sauce
1 tsp ginger, minced
1/2 cup cilantro chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 pickled jalapeno, seeded and sliced
1 Tbs orange olive oil
1 Tbs lime juice
salt to taste

For the Parsnip Chips
Thick end of one parsnip, sliced into thin rounds
olive oil


Slice the top of the parsnip into thin rounds. When you get to the thinner root part, roughly chop and add to carrots. Place the parsnip slices on a baking sheet, drizzle with oil and roast at 375 for 35 minutes or until crispy, flipping occasionally. The thinner you slice these, the crispier they will get.

Warm soup pot over medium heat, add oil. Saute ginger and garlic for 3 min stir with wooden spoon to keep from burning. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer until carrots are soft -about 30 min.

Make Creme Fraiche
Blend all ingreidients until smooth

Make Tangy Ginger Cilantro Sauce
Puree ingredients in a food processor. I only have a Magic Bullet so it's to get certain consistecies; ust go for what you want/are capable of.

To assemble, laddle soup into a bowl and dizzel with the Creme Fraiche and Tangy Cilantro Ginger Sauce. Add a few parsnip chips and enjoy!

Cheap punk tip of the week:
I love tea, I also love ginger. Therefore, both are too precious to waste. If you're like me, it's a struggle to peel ginger without including some of the flesh. Rather than just through the skin out, I toss it into a pan with a few cups of water and let it boil down a bit while I'm cooking. This acts as a cheap 'tea', or adds a little kick to my reused bag of Earl Grey.