Summer Root Vegetable Soup

Hello, friends! Welcome to my first summer-y recipe of the season: a Summer Root Vegetable Soup!

I absolutely love to “eat with the seasons”. What I mean by this is that I like to eat produce that is currently in season, because it’s at it’s peak yumminess! In-season veggies are also often higher in nutritional value because they don’t have to be processed or preserved. Eating “in season” also works great for me because I am part of a CSA, which means that I get produce from a local farm every week – so I am always stocked up on whatever is currently growing! I’m constantly looking for new and fun ways to use up whatever we get in our weekly veggie box.

One thing that I’m ALWAYS getting in our box this time of year is summer root vegetables – particularly beets and carrots! Last year I started playing with these and eventually created a soup that has become a staple in my house. I sometimes switch up which root vegetables I use, but beets and carrots are always included! For this recipe I decided to include my typical go-to version of this soup, but if you have other root vegetables that you think would go well (such as parsnips, etc), feel free to add those in if you are feeling adventurous!

Ingredients

• Carrots, beets, and turnips – obviously the focus of this soup! When these are cooked up and blended with the other ingredients they create a delicious summer-inspired soup with lots of nutrients packed in.
• Garlic, ginger, and onion – for a little extra flavor! I like to refer to ingredients like this as “flavor boosters” because they are an easy way to make your food even more flavorful and delicious.
• Chickpeas – this may seem like an odd ingredient for a soup, but it really works great for this one. These give the soup a great consistency – they blend up smoothly but also make our soup a little bit thicker. Plus, extra protein!
• Lemon juice – this one is optional! I’ve made this soup with and without the lemon juice, and it’s great either way. The acid in the lemon juice brightens the flavors a bit and compliments the deep flavors of the beets well, but if you like the flavor of the soup without it you can just leave it out! Just depends on your taste preferences.
• Thyme, nutritional yeast, and salt & pepper – to round out our flavors with some seasonings!

How to Make Summer Root Vegetable Soup

1. Chop your veggies and add them to boiling water to cook
2. Blend your cooked veggies with chickpeas, garlic, and ginger
3. Blend in seasonings and optional lemon juice, then adjust as needed
4. Add whatever toppings your heart desires and serve!

Tips & Tricks

• Like I mentioned above, this is my typical go-to version of this recipe – but you could easily add in other root vegetables if you want! I’ve experimented with adding in radishes, parsnips, and even kohlrabi. They’ve all worked well!
• This recipe calls for 4 beets, but you can choose if you want to use red or golden! I typically use two of each. Golden beets tend to have a slightly earthier taste, and red beets tend to be a little sweeter. Your choice here will also affect the color of your soup.
• You can of course grate your own fresh ginger, but I love using the frozen crushed ginger from Trader Joe’s! Since the veggies are hot when you blend everything up, you don’t even have to thaw them beforehand – they melt pretty quickly once they get thrown in the blender.
• My favorite toppings for this soup are coconut yogurt and everything bagel seasoning. I know that everything bagel seasoning sounds like an odd choice, but I encourage you to give it a try!
• This soup freezes pretty well! I like to let the soup cool to room temperature, put one serving of soup in an air-tight container, and pop the container in the freezer. When I want to thaw it I just move it back into the fridge the night before, and then I reheat it on the stovetop the next day!

Happy cooking!

Summer Root Vegetable Soup

Recipe by Delaney Romero – Joyful Balance

Servings

3-4

servings

Total time

45

minutes

Ingredients

• 4 medium carrots

• 4 medium beets (red or golden, or a mix of both)*

• 1 medium/large turnip

• 1 medium white onion

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 3 tsp ginger, grated or crushed

• 1 can chickpeas, drained

• 3/4 tsp thyme

• 1.5 Tbsp nutritional yeast

• salt and pepper, to taste

• 2 tsp lemon juice, optional*

• Optional Toppings:

• Coconut yogurt

• Everything bagel seasoning

• Parsley

Directions

• Fill a medium to large pot about 2/3 of the way with water. Put this on the stove and bring it to a boil while you prep your veggies.
• Prep your veggies:
  -Chop off the ends of your carrots, beets, turnip, and onion. Peel the beets and turnip with a peeler, and remove the outer layer of the onion.
  -Chop all of these veggies into fairly large pieces – it doesn’t matter much how large the pieces are, but you want them all relatively similar sizes so that they all take around the same time to cook. I typically quarter my beets and then chop my other veggies to be a similar size.
• Add all of the veggies you just chopped into your boiling water (make sure there is enough water to cover them), and let simmer until they are all tender and can easily be pierced with a fork. This usually takes 20-25 minutes.
• Using a ladle, transfer your veggies into a high powered blender (but DON’T toss the water you just cooked them in!).
• To the blender: add the chickpeas, garlic, ginger, and about 1.75 cups of the water that you just used to cook your veggies. Blend until smooth. Feel free to add more of the veggie water as you go if you want a thinner consistency or if you are having a hard time getting it to blend.
• Add the thyme, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper, and the optional lemon juice to your blender. Blend until well incorporated.
• Give it a taste test and add more seasonings if desired.
• Serve with whatever toppings you’d like and enjoy!

Notes

• *Beets – I used 2 golden and 2 red for the batch pictured in this post. The color of your soup may vary based on your choice of beets.
• *Lemon juice – this brightens the flavor of the soup, but you can leave it out if you prefer!

Happy cooking, friends! If you made this recipe don’t forget to tag me (@joyfulbalanceofficial) on facebook or instagram so I can cheer you on for your soup-cooking ways.

Stay well!