Wind chills below zero this morning. Perfect day to bake bread and make roasted vegetable soup out of spiralized root vegetables.

I’ve made roasted vegetable soup for years by dicing various root vegetables, tossing them in olive oil and salt and pepper and roasting them. It occurred to me that the Spiralizer could make short work of the chopping process, and I was right. It took very little time to spiralize a sweet potato, two carrots, a fat parsnip, the neck of a butternut squash, and a red potato.

I minced a couple of cloves of garlic and sliced an onion to add to the mix. On the subject of spiralizing onions, my last attempt ended in a rush of tears from the onion fumes, so today I opted to slice it separately.

Once the vegetables were roasted and soft (about 40 minutes at 400 degrees), I added them to a quart of simmering chicken stock. Using an immersion blended, I pureed the mixture. The vegetables were pretty well seasoned from the roasting process, so I didn’t feel the need to add anything. Sometimes, it needs more salt or pepper, but not today. At this point, I added a cup of half and half. Really not necessary, this soup can be thinned with another cup of broth. Along those lines, it could actually be made with vegetable stock. But the half and half does take it to another level! Sprinkling with some chopped spring onions or croutons or toasted sunflowers seeds doesn’t hurt either.

Speaking of taking things to another level, I’ve discovered a great website with ideas for using the Spiralizer:   www.inspiralized.com  .

Can’t forget the bread. Nothing makes a house smell better than baking bread!

(https://saltwaterinfluenced.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/favorite-bread/)