Roasted Vegetable Soup

I have quite the collection of cookbooks. As I was doing my menu planning Sunday night, I decided to go through a couple of cookbooks I don't use as often. One of them, titled, "One Pot," I thought I'd thumb through, and then get rid of. Instead, I found recipes that I wanted to try out! Below is a recipe for Roasted Vegetable Soup. Other recipes I'm trying this week from this book include: Paprika Pork & Vegetable Lasagna.

Yesterday afternoon I stopped by a market near a local mall to pick up the fresh produce. It's not only fresher than the grocery store, but comes in larger batches at a better price! I made this recipe last night for dinner, and it was wonderful served with a couple of semmels, an Austrian-style roll.

Roasted Vegetable Soup

2-3 tbs. olive oil

1 lb. ripe tomatoes, peeled, cored, and halved

3 large yellow bell peppers, halved, cored, and seeded

3 zucchini, halved lengthwise

1 small eggplant, halved lengthwise

4 garlic cloves, halved

2 onions, cut into eighths

salt and pepper

thyme

4 cups vegetable stock

1/2 cup light cream (those in Austria - I used Rama Cremefina)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Brush a large, shallow baking dish with olive oil. Arrange the tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, and eggplant across the bottom, cut-side down in one layer. Tuck the garlic cloves and onion pieces into the gaps and drizzle the veggies with oil. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with thyme.

Bake the veggies in the oven, for 30-35 minutes uncovered, or until soft and browned around the edges. Let cool.

Working in batches, place the eggplant and bell pepper flesh in a food processor with the zucchini, tomatoes, garlic and onion and chop to the consistency of salsa. Do not blend into a paste (NOTE: I do not have a food processor, so instead used a blender. It was a bit more pureed, but tasted really good in the soup!).

Place the (chopped) veggie mixture in a pot, stir in the stock, and simmer over medium heat for 20-30 minutes. Stir in the cream and simmer the soup over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until hot. Tast and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.

Nutritional Info: Serves 6

Calories - 130

Protein - 3 g

Carbs - 11 g

Sugars - 9 g

Fat - 9 g

Saturates - 3 g

Taste - wonderful!