Slow Cooker Carrot Ginger Soup

Well, look at that! FOOD! With a recipe...and a photo! What madness is this?? So sad that doing a blog post has become such a dramatic endeavor. JT FINALLY brought the camera home from work and I FINALLY made something good for dinner instead of just running off to class and leaving him with pizza and a puppy.

Unbelievable, my first quarter of culinary school is complete! I survived...and I got all As (whew!). We start back again in a couple of weeks and I'm super excited to get back at it, but in the meantime, I'm looking forward to getting a manicure (my nails are shot), celebrating my one year wedding anniversary (this weekend, snuggling with Zoey and doing LOTS of cooking at home.

Before we get to all that though, I want to share this soup. This delicious recipe is perfect for early spring -- hearty and refreshing at the same time with a tasty blend of carrots, ginger, orange zest and spices. Even better, it can be thrown together in the morning and simmered all day in the slow cooker. When you're ready to eat, blend it with a stick blender right in the cooker, adjust the seasonings and enjoy. A light spring salad and some warm bread complete the meal perfectly.

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the slow return of spring! If you guys have any easy recipes (especially for the slow cooker), I'll be back in school soon and looking for simple ideas! And thanks for hanging in there with me for the past few months....I know I've been a little preoccupied but appreciate the supportive comments and posts from everyone!

Slow Cooker Carrot Ginger Soup
Serves 4

2 small shallots, sliced in half
1 lb. carrots, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces
zest of half of an orange, finely minced
juice from one orange
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely minced
4 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
2 Tbs half & half
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. siracha hot sauce
salt & pepper to taste

Combine first six ingredients in the insert of a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for up to 8 hours or on high for 4 hours, until the vegetables are tender. Use a stick blender to puree the soup directly in the slow cooker, or puree in batches in a regular blender. Add half & half, brown sugar, soy sauce and hot sauce. Add salt & pepper (and, if needed, adjust cumin, hot sauce or brown sugar to taste).

Woof!

I'm currently the worst food blogger ever! In the last week I've made about a dozen French sauces, a recipe for shrimp bisque, a roasted beet salad, and my first-ever hollandaise sauce but each has either been during class (where I can't whip out my camera) or on a night where I've been sans camera. Boo.

So instead of food, thought I'd try something new with a video post of Zoey being funny. Never tried this before, so hoping it works. As you'll see, the puppy has a strange obsession with her food bowl, even when its empty. Gotta love that someone as food-centric as I am chose a dog who is obsessed with her food bowl.

Introducing Zoey & Our New Puppy Parenthood Adventures

I'm woefully behind in sharing the recipe for the bread I posted last time...frankly, I can't seem to find my recipe notes right now. But I have a pretty good reason.

I'd like to introduce Zoey, our new French bulldog puppy. She is 9 weeks old, 4.5 pounds and absolutely adorable (if I say so myself).

We've been considering getting a dog for quite a while now and when the opportunity to adopt Zoey came along, she seemed such a perfect fit for us that we decided to take the leap. We're less than a week in (she just came home on Sunday) so we're still adjusting. Puppies are a TON of work...your entire life changes overnight! But she's been worth it.

We're working to get her on a scheduel and she's already made quite a bit of progress, but for awhile at least, the rest of our personal lives (things like eating, let alone cooking) are sort of on the backburner! But we're adjusting and I've already got some easy-to-prepare slow cooker and quick-fix pasta dishes in mind for the coming weeks, so should be back to posting some delicious and fun recipes soon. But in the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy a few precious puppy pictures instead!

Does anyone else there have any good puppy training tips or stories to share? We're eager to learn from others so by all means, let me know!