This past fall I really wanted to learn how to make soup + bread. I was on a bread kick for awhile, but the soup thing didn’t really pan out. Who am I kidding..neither did the bread. There were maybe 3 loaves.

Well, winter is here [although still fairly warm] and I’m really digging soup. For some reason, I don’t feel quite confident enough to make my own soup though. I know it’s kind of hard to mess up and you can keep tweaking it while cooking, but for now, I will trust recipes.

This recipe was definitely worth trusting!

I love fennel.

Vibrant green with a sweet + slight aniseed flavor, a white bulbous end, and little green sprigs sprouting out the top.

Another current obsession has been carrots. I’ve had a 5lb bag for a week and have already consumed at least 2.5lbs of it, with barely any help from the huz. Carrots have come and go in my diet, but lately, they’re eaten on a daily basis.

I buy full sized carrots…no slimy baby carrots in this house! Wash, scrub, and slice…sprinkle with a little salt and they are perfect!

Or put them in soup! Actually, I’m not a huge fan of cooked carrots. I will eat them but they’re just “okay.” So why am I making a soup FULL of carrots? Because it sounded delicious, that’s why!

Adding rice to soup is never a bad thing. Love the different textures of wild rice.

Amazing smells were wafting from this pot! Stainless steel pots + pans are a major love of mine.

This was a quick soup, and not much prep work either. Cook the rice, chop 2 veggies and some garlic, sauté, stir, add broth, simmer, add rice. Easy! Although I would have never come up with this on my own!

Garnished with the recommended parmesan cheese and fennel sprigs.

The parmesan really helped bring all of the flavors together. Only having cooked this soup for 25min, the carrots were not soggy. They were slightly soft, but still had a nice bite. The rice was chew and the slivered fennel was mellow and pleasant. I absolutely loved this soup. It’s sort of a rustic soup, with great flavor, chew + slurp!

I accidentally left out the last step. The recipe called for adding blood orange olive oil or a little orange juice. However, nothing felt like it was missing to me…except maybe a fresh baguette.

There is something amazing about making your own soup. I just love the process.

101 Cookbooks - Carrot and Fennel Soup

<3 Ashley

Looking for my other “slowing down” posts?