the art of eating in

"So the eating in is going well!"*Blank Stare* or a well meaning "Oh, not you?!" is the reaction I get from most of my friends and coworkers who find that this foodie has taken a hiatius from my (sometimes almost) daily trips to Whole Foods, Butterfly, Sultans...I could go on.Although I have to say it's been hard that most of our lunch conversation this week has been "Let's go around and share your favorite coffee shop in Chicago" or favorite bar, favorite thai, favorite burger joint...ah!!! Temptation!!So yes, it's going well. I have officially lost 1.2 lbs so far (hey...it's something!) so the scale is being nice to me again. Phew.The first 11 days of 2011 have brought us a few delicious recipes.Carrot Ginger SoupFajita'sOrange ChickenRoasted Vegetables with Maple Brussels Sproutsand our favorite Pizza RecipeI'm going to share the Carrot Ginger Soup recipe today, because I brought it to our staff potluck and it was a hit!But not before I tell you about how important this week is.If you didn't know, my husband is a Graduate Student at North Park Theological Seminary where he is pursuing his Masters in Christian Formation. Fancy, eh? He's graduating in May, so this week is what I like to call "the beginning of the end". We will be working for the Evangelical Covenant Church, and this is the week we start interviewing with the Superintendents of each conference in the country.Our theme for this year is "No Expectations" (I don't know how many times I've said that to myself and others these past two weeks...lots!) so of course...we are not expecting to stay here in our beloved Chicago, or even the midwest (scary!!).So if you make this soup, and while you're eating it and thinking about how great you think this blog is and the joy this soup brought into your life (hehe too much?) think of us, send us your good thoughts and prayers.Also, my lovely husband got me an immersion blender. Yay. I think he was just sick of washing the blender and everywhere I dripped after making soup.

Carrot Ginger Soup

Weight Watchers Points+ 6 servings: 3 pointsadapted from Food Network & Maxine Bonneau

I swapped out heavy cream for evaporated milk to lighten up on the calories. Also, I love serving this dish with baked polenta cakes (the polenta in a tube just sliced and baked) and edemame.

2 tbs sweet cream butter (look for lite butter)1 large white or spanish onion peeled & rough chopped or 2 medium onions2 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced6 cups fat free/low sodium chicken or vegetable stock (if you want the recipe to be vegetarian)2 tbs grated ginger (or 1/4 tsp ground powder ginger)1 cup fat free evaporated milksalt and pepperSour CreamParsley for garnish

1. Heat butter in 6-quart pan (or I use my large Le Crueset french oven)2. Rough chop onions and add to butter (don't worry about chopping perfect...you're going to be pureeing this all in the end). I also like to throw about a teaspoon of salt on the onions to get them good and tasty.3. Peel your carrots and again, just roughly slice them into similar size pieces. Grate your ginger now too.4. When the onions have gotten limp or softened (I found with the spanish onion they just got soft and sweet and smelled like onion rings...yum) add the 6 cups of stock, sliced carrots, and the ginger. Stir together.5. Cover and bring to a boil.6. Lower the heat and simmer until the carrots are soft. Remove from heat.If you do not have an immersion blender, read 7. If you do own one, read 7.1 7. If you have a regular blender, carefully transfer soup to the blender only filling it up half way. Take the little cap out of the lid to vent and put a towel over the hole so you don't have an orange kitchen. Blend away my friend. Repeat in batches if necessary.7.1 If you have an immersion blender, CAREFULLY blend until soup is pureed and smooth. Try not to splash yourself with this molten hot concoction like I did. Ouchie.8. Add 1 cup evaporated milk so it's nice and creamy.9. Season with pepper if you'd like, and 2 tsp+ kosher salt.I really like to put a dab of sour cream in my bowl and pour the soup over, remember to add in the additional points.