Carrot Craze

These recipes came from an abundance of carrots I was given back in May (thank you Lisa Kilmas). With about 3 pounds of baby carrots, I knew I couldn't bare to eat ALL of them raw. So, one day, before they spoiled, I decided to put them to good use and make something savory, and something sweet. These are two recipes I found, changed a bit, a made my own. The first is a curried carrot soup. This was absolutely wonderful, comforting, and a crowd pleaser. I ended up taking some to work to share and all my co-workers loved it. The second was, of course, carrot muffins. These were also popular, as I passed them out to my neighbors. They are both pretty simple and so tasty! Enjoy!

Curried Carrot Soup

You will need:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion
1 1/2 pounds baby carrots
6 cups chicken stalk
1 tablespoon mild curry paste
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 
Coarse salt
sour cream (optional)
6 blades fresh chives, cut into 1-inch pieces (optional)
food processor

Preheat medium pot over medium high heat. Add olive oil, butter, onions and carrots and saute 5 minutes. Ass 4 cups of chicken stock, curry, cayenne, cinnamon and about 1 teaspoon salt to the pot. Bring to a boil, cover and cook until carrots are very tender, about 15 minutes.

 Place pot near the food processor. Process soup in 2 or 3 small batches until soup is smooth and carrots are fully pureed. Transfer processed soup into a large bowl as you work to make room for more soup in the food processor. Return completed soup to the soup pot and place back over low heat. If the soup is too thick, ass remaining stock, up to 2 cups, to achieve desired consistency. Adjust seasonings. 

 If you choose to use sour cream and chives, top with a small dollop on each soup, along with chives. (I decided to keep it as healthy as possible and opted out of using sour cream, it was delicious)

Super Moist Carrot Muffins

What you'll need:

3 mixing bowls

3 cups finely grated carrots

4 large eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 1/4 cups of oil (oil offers a really nice fine texture. I used olive oil, but you can use any type)

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

1 cup of raisins

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 150°C. Butter and flour either two 9-inch-diameter cake pans or a large muffin tin.

In bowl 1, mix the grated carrots, walnuts and raisins together.

In bowl 2, mix the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together.

In bowl 2, mix the sugar and the oil together. Then add in the eggs to the sugar and oil mixture 1 at a time, mixing for about 30 seconds are each.

Add flour mixture to this and stir until blended.

Finally add in the carrot mixture and mix until blended.

Divide the batter into the muffin tins.

Bake muffins until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. It took me about 20 minutes for the muffins.

Make sure to cool the muffins in the pans for at least 15 minutes. 

Turn out onto racks and eat away!