Nomato Soup - a Faux Tomato Soup with Carrots

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Our theme for this Sunday is carrot recipes!  We love glazed carrots, carrots in soup, shredded carrots in salad, and carrot sticks with peanut butter.  Oh, and carrot cake, don't forget carrot cake.  But this week I tried something a little different.  15-20 years ago, tomatoes were on the list of many things my kids were allergic to, but they were way down the list.  Our top three were soy, corn, and wheat (not gluten).  Oh, and rice if it was more than two days in a row.  We have outgrown most of them and the symptoms have changed and reduced since childhood, though corn is still a biggie.  Anyway, some people can't have any nightshades whatsoever, no tomatoes, bell peppers, cayenne, etc.  Since my eldest absolutely adores tomato soup, I decided to adapt an AIP pasta sauce recipe into a soup recipe with ingredients I had on hand to see if it could pass muster!  Looking around, I might add some butternut or pumpkin puree to this in a small amount next time to add more creamy texture.  But for now, the cream does that.
 
And the verdict: eldest took a few sips and wasn't sure, then said it was growing on her. "It's like tomato soup had an identity crisis, but it's not bad at all, I would eat that.  Now if I had both in front of me, I would totally choose your tomato soup because it's the best."   And for youngest, (who is not a big tomato soup fan), a tentative taste, then grabbing the bowl and happily finishing it.  "Oh I like this so much better!"  "Really?"  "Yeah, tomato soup is too sweet for me!"  (Which is funny because this tasted sweeter to me than the tomato soup until we added just a bit more salt to taste.)  And hubby?  Well, he slurped down a little bowl and said, "yup, your soup is always good."  "What kind of soup do you think it is?"  "It's tomato..."  And I liked it just fine too.  I would like the bigger heat of the red pepper flakes, but for testing I stuck with fully nightshade free.

Nomato Soup
6 servings

1 tbsp avocado oil  
1 tbsp butter
2 yellow onions, roughly chopped  
4 garlic cloves, crushed  
1 pound carrots, peeled and chopped  
3 stalks celery, chopped 
1 medium beet, peeled and chopped 
2 cups water  
1 tsp sea salt 
½ tsp dried oregano 
½ tsp black pepper
⅛ tsp cumin
¼ tsp celery seeds
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice  
(optional - ¼-½ tsp sichuan peppercorns, crushed, for heat, or red pepper flakes only if you can tolerate nightshades)
¼ tsp white pepper
1 tsp brown sugar (optional - to taste)
¼-⅓ cup heavy cream


Directions:
Set your pressure cooker to saute, or heat a pot to medium heat on stove.  Melt the butter with the olive oil. Add the onion, celery, and garlic and season with salt and pepper.  Cook and stir occasionally until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the carrots, beet, water, lemon juice, celery seed, oregano, cumin, optional sichuan, and bay leaf, and season with the salt and black pepper. Using the "soup" or "manual" pressure function, cook at high pressure for 15 minutes.  Release pressure.  (If cooking without a pressure cooker, bring the soup to a boil over high heat.  Break up the tomatoes with a potato masher or the back of a spoon. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes.)  Remove the bay leaves.

Using an immersion blender, puree the soup to desired texture.  Or, working in batches, transfer the tomato soup to a blender and puree until smooth. Return the soup to the pot and stir in the cream, optional brown sugar, and white pepper.  Taste and adjust seasoning with additional salt and pepper if necessary. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.  
 

 Be sure to check out the rest of our carrot based recipes:

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