With Christmas around the corner, I know I need to get my “ducks in a row” to be able to avoid out growing my jeans over the holidays. I love Christmas baking and need to be able to off-set my sweet tooth with some healthy soup.

My three day cleanse soup from The Plan by Lyn-Genet Recitas is Carrot Ginger. The recipe doesn’t give exact amounts and I can honestly say I don’t really enjoy it that much. I decided that I would search for another Carrot Ginger Soup Recipe in hopes of finding something similar, but with better flavour. I found this absolutely delicious recipe on the Food Network. The recipe was submitted by Maxine Bonneau and received rave reviews. Obviously with a 5 star rating, the recipe didn’t require “tweaking”, but I did modify it to make it more similar to the one suggested in The Plan.

Cindy’s Carrot Ginger Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 onions, peeled and chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 a zucchini, peeled and chopped
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
• Salt and white pepper
• Sour cream

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a large pot. Add onions, carrots, garlic, zucchini and ginger. Sauté the veggies for about 5 minutes to bring out the flavours.
2. Add the broth, cover with a lid and bring it to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and transfer to a blender (or use an immersion blender). Purée until smooth. *Be careful if you use a blender as the pressure in the blender builds up with hot liquids and it can be very dangerous – see note below.
4. Ladle into bowls and garnish with a dollop sour cream and parsley sprigs.

*When blending hot liquids: Allow the hot liquid to cool for at least 5 minutes. Transfer it to a blender and fill it no more than halfway. Release one corner of the lid to prevent the vacuum effect that creates heat explosions. Place a towel over the top of the machine, pulse it a few times then process on high speed until smooth.

Comparing the soups: The differences between the soup recipe suggested on the cleanse and this one are the chicken broth, suggested spices and sour cream. You may want to omit the sour cream, but it really is delicious when stirred in. Maxine’s soup didn’t include garlic or zucchini and I omitted the 1 cup of whipping cream. Although I’m sure it is very good with the cream, in my opinion the sour cream adds enough of a creamy flavour without the extra calories. This marriage of the two recipes makes a healthier version of the delicious Carrot Ginger Soup recipe. I can’t say it has the same properties as the “cleanse” soup, but it is certainly a good alternative for me. I love the soup and seem to have good results using it in place of the recipe I don’t really care for.