Curried Carrot Soup With Cornbread Croutons

By Alqualonde

Slow cookers are just the best when the weather turns warm and breezy. It frees you up from kitchen duty just when you need it most -- supper time. Enjoy the time with your friends and family, and let the crock pot do all the heavy work!

Ingredients

• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 to 2 teaspoons mild gluten-free curry powder, or to taste (can subsitute with regular curry powder)
• 1 leek
• 4 large carrots
• 1 sweet potato
• half a banana squash, butternut will do in a pinch
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 tablespoons jalapenos, chopped
• fresh water, as needed
• sea salt, to taste
• olive oil

Preparation

Step 1

1. Plug in your slow cooker and turn it on to high. Pour a drizzle of olive oil into the bottom. Add in the chopped garlic and curry powder. Stir and cover. Let the curry infuse the oil as you chop the vegetables. Wash the leek, trim, and slice the white section. Peel, trim, and chop the carrots. Peel and chop the sweet potato and squash. Place all the chopped veggies into the warm crock and stir. Add just enough fresh water to cover them. Season the soup with sea salt to taste and cover.

2. If you keep the soup on high it will cook faster -- say, four hours or so, depending on your make and model. If you need to stretch out the cooking time, turn the slow cooker on to low. It will be ready in perhaps six hours. If you need to stretch it a bit longer I don't think it would hurt, as long as you've put enough water in the crock. The soup is ready when the carrots are tender and split easily using a fork.

3. Puree the soup with an immersion blender until the soup is silky smooth. Taste test. If it cooked down too much and is a tad thick, add some liquid {for extra creaminess use a dash of coconut milk, although I didn't add any extra "milk" and we loved the fresh, clean taste} and gently heat through for another 10 minutes. Serve with pan toasted cornbread croutons.


For the easy cornbread croutons:

1. Started with Gluten-Free Cornbread Mix. Follow the directions on the package, substituting the eggs, and using water and olive oil to keep it vegan.

2. Add the following ingredients to the mix:

3. 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoons chopped jalapenos {skip if you need it less spicy}

4. Bake the mix in a 9-inch cake pan and cooled it on a rack. Slice the cornbread into eight wedges; then wrap each one in recycled foil, and bag for freezing. Use one thawed piece of cornbread for two people. Cut the cornbread into cubes. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and drizzle in some olive oil. Add the cubes of cornbread. Gently toss them from time to time as they sizzle and get golden. Remove with soft-tip tongs. Serve hot sizzling croutons on top of the soup.