Carrot and Basil Soup

Since the Easter Bunny has left for another year, I thought you might not know what to do with all the leftover carrots so here is an awesome recipe.  The broth really makes it.  With regular vegetable broth it just tastes like carrots!! Hee hee. Don't get me wrong, I like carrots, but with this broth it is really something special:


Carrot and Basil Soup

1 Tbsp Olive oil

2 Tbsp butter or Earth Balance or Smart Balance

1 Large Vidalia onion, chopped

3 stalks celery

2 medium potatoes, chopped

2 pounds carrots, cut into chunks

6 cups of College Inn Thai Coconut Curry Broth (orig recipe calls for vegetable broth, I like to add a zing!!)

2 tsp ground coriander (optional)

1/4 chopped fresh basil

fresh ground black pepper to taste

Heat oil and butter in large soup pot over medium heat. Sauté onion for 3-4 minutes until slightly softened. Add celery and potatoes, cook for few minutes, then add carrots. Sauté for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently. Cover, reduce heat to low and "sweat" veggies for 10 minutes. Make sure veggies do not stick to bottom of pot.

Add the broth, bring to a boil and cover and simmer until carrots and potatoes are tender. Let cool slightly.

Use an immersion blender to process until smooth, or put the soup into batches and process in a blender until smooth. Stir in coriander, basil, and pepper to taste.

16 – 1 cup servings at 1 point each

Wine Tasting

My niece, Kim, came to visit and my daughter, Kelsey was home from college over Easter weekend. My niece turned 21 last June and I promised to take her out for a drink and I finally got around to it!! Kelsey was the designated driver.

We did a tasting at Macari and I explained the process to Kim. She did a great job and really liked the wines, as did I.  Here are some of our favorites.

Next stop was

Kelsey ad Kimberly

We sat outside by soon to be blooming vineyards and ate out snacks of Weight Watchers Multi Grain Crisps, Laughing Cow French Onion and Garlic Herb cheeses, blackberries, apple slices, carrots and cucumbers. Yes, you can go wine tasting and still be prepared :) We enjoyed a glass of Chardonnay here. Very delicious.

Onto our final winery, One Woman Winery. Check this winery out on line, http://www.onewomanwines.com/ 

It is an amazing story and she makes truly fantastic wines. I had the Gewurztraminer and Kim had the Chardonnay. It is a bit pricey but well worth it.

This is the tasting shed where her charming and friendly daughter, Gabriella, serves up the wines.

After a fun filled wine tasting tour we ended the day with a little shopping and dinner in the beautiful and quaint town of Greenport.

Girls will be girls.  What a great day!!

Sangria

It wouldn't be a holiday weekend without a little wine......well, actually for me, it wouldn't be any weekend without a little wine ;) I decided to make a nice sangria with a great inexpensive chardonnay, called Barefoot.  Their sparkling wine is really delicious too which you can add to the sangria for a extra taste sensation.

Just cut up your fruitof choice.  In this particular batch I put blackberries, an apple, a peach and some leftover pinapple chunks I had in the fridge with their natural juice. Pour it all together with the wine in a big container and let it sit at least a day.  The riper the fruit the better.  Sometimes I add a little bit of honey. This is so clean and refreshing for a sunny day.

For those of you counting POINTS, a 4 oz glass is 2.  If you eat the fruit count it accordingly.

Action shot (LOL)