Today was a cold and rainy day, and I just wanted to stay in bed.  This was the kind of day that inspired me to fill my belly with lots of chocolate peanut butter cups, and deep dark chocolate ice cream, and in between bites, chocolate chip cookies made with potato chips (you getting the gist?). All of these dreamy delicious foods were not an option due to my whole 30 challenge, as I am still not eating sugar.  On top of that, this week’s Reddit 52 Weeks of Cooking challenge is garlic, and I wasn’t sure what to make. My thoughts went to garlicky comfort food. Mashed potatoes, with lots of garlic, butter and cream, shepherds pie, or garlic bread with tons of garlic butter and cheese. I even thought of making meatballs with loads of garlic, but I would have to eat them all, with platefuls of spaghetti. I am not eating gluten yet due to my whole 30 challenge, so sadly platefuls of spaghetti were also out. What would warm me up, and comfort me? Soup. Garlic soup? Garlic soup!

Here is a picture of some of the garlic we picked up from Oakhill Organics. I love the way the papery skin, and the beautiful dried roots look in this photograph.

I placed the garlic bulbs in the center of a sheet of tinfoil and then drizzled them with olive oil. I folded the sides of the foil up together tightly and baked the garlic in a 350 F. degree oven for one hour. My kitchen smelled heavenly. I unfolded them to reveal their glorious deliciousness, only to discover that I had forgotten to cut off their tops. I had forgotten a few times before, so It was no big deal. I waited for them to cool a bit then cut the tip of the bulbs off. I was then able to squeeze out the luscious garlic paste into the pot.

I was not concerned about chopping my vegetables uniformly, because in the end the soup was going to be pureed.

Many recipes on the internet called for all purpose flour, as an ingredient to thicken the soup. All purpose flour has gluten, and I cannot eat gluten at this time, so I added rutabagas to my veggie mix. Rutabagas are potato-like when cooked, and I thought when pureed, they would lend a thickening, velvety quality to my roasted garlic soup.  

I try to sneak as many types of vegetables in a soup for extra nutrition. When pureed, you cannot tell that there was garlic, carrots, rutabagas, onions, and leeks in the soup.

I really love my hand blender. It works beautifully for pureeing soups as well as making smoothies, blending fruit into yogurt, making dips…

Every day I see new chives sprout up in our garden. They are so fragrant and fresh, I am always ready to snip them, and add them to all sorts of yummy recipes. They work really well in egg dishes, dips, and of course, soups. I roasted some sunflower seeds from Oakhill Organics this week. I decided to shell, and added them at the end for some wonderful texture, and nuttiness. Do not limit yourself to just chives and sunflower seeds. They are what I had in my pantry and garden. Toasted filberts, cashews, and for the holidays perhaps apples and chestnuts would be a lovely crunchy addition. Use what you have in your pantry and garden and please make, and enjoy this delicious sweet cream of garlic soup with your family, and friends.

B00ARQVM5O,B00008CM6E,B002VBXWRE,B0001BMXKI