Roasted Bell Pepper & Roasted Garlic Soup

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This is going to make your house smell sooooooo gooooood.  I'm jealous of you.

This is the type of soup to make when you buy a big bag of bell peppers from the produce store because you thought you were out, and your husband also buys a big bag of bell peppers the same day because he thought you were out, and then you both get home and you already had a bag of bell peppers in your fridge.  This is a true story of my mom and dad and the dilemma of what to do with too many bell peppers.  Cue a delicious tasting soup that requires eight of these beautiful bells, and a mother/daughter team ready for the challenge while gearing up for a diet (my mom and I made this soup while we were making our diet Detox Water the other day).

Did I spend enough time talking about the bell peppers?  OK goooooood, because we all know how much I really prefer the unsung hero of this soup, the 16 cloves of roasted garlic.  Yes, 16.  Don't worry, roasting those bad boys will add sweetness and take all of the spicy bite out of it.  Mmmm garlic - amiright!?

Nope, that's not a dollop of butter, that's one clove of garlic for each half bell pepper - bliss!

Fennel seeds are one of my top 10 least favourite foods on the planet, so I get it if you don't want to put them in, BUT, you should.  The fennel seeds are only used to add some flavour at the beginning and then they are removed before you really get into the nuts and bolts of making the soup.  Use the fennel seeds, just do.

 

My mom and I really liked this soup, and at under 100 calories per bowl, it's especially good for those on an, ahem, diet, like us.  There is literally not even one bad thing in the ingredient listing for this soup.  No oil, butter - nada.  OK, OK, there's a little bit of salt...but all things considered, not bad!

Oh, and a quick tip - to easily remove the skin from the roasted peppers, after you take them out of the oven just put them into a plastic bag for 5 - 10 minutes to allow them to sweat.  After that, the skin should be very simple to peel.

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Roasted Bell Pepper and Roasted Garlic Soup

Serves:  4

Ingredients

• 8 bell peppers (try to use equal amounts of red, yellow, and orange)
• 16 cloves garlic, peeled
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed (don't worry, these will be strained out later)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Slice each bell pepper in half and remove stem, seeds, and membrane.  Place the peppers into two shallow baking dishes, open side up.  Put a garlic clove into each pepper.  Sprinkle peppers with lemon juice.  Pop the peppers and garlic into the oven and roast for 1 hour.

In a large pot bring the broth and fennel seeds to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until the peppers are ready to come out of the oven.  Strain out out the fennel seeds and discard the seeds.  Add the thyme to the broth and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes.

When the peppers come out of the oven, place into a plastic bag for about 10 minutes (this will help to loosen the skin so that they are easier to peel).  Remove peppers from bag, and peel off all skin.

Add the peppers, garlic, garlic salt, and freshly ground black pepper to the pot.  Using a hand blender, blend contents of the pot until the mixture is pureed and no large pieces of garlic remain .  Alternatively you can use a food processor or regular blender and work in batches.

Enjoy your healthy and delicious soup!

Adapted From:  Allrecipes.com