With winter finally rearing its ugly head and the holiday rush being done in less than a week, full on hibernation mode will be ensuing very soon! I can picture it now: me, swaddled tightly in a blanket, like a newborn, on my couch with my husband watching Netflix, without a care in the world. Ahhhh, it will be so sweet! And what better comfort food to enjoy while so doing? Well, a warm, hearty homemade soup immediately comes to mind!
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending a holiday dinner with The Feed Feed and Vitamix, right here in Toronto at the Tempered Room. Each of the courses served to us was made using their special Winter Spice Seasoning, which is totally delicious! Believe it or not, the spice mix is made inside of a Vitamix and has ground up cinnamon, crystalized ginger, cardamom, pink peppercorns, cloves, dried orange peel, and brown sugar inside. It’s perfectly balanced in flavour and suitable for sweet or savoury dishes. So, when The Feed Feed and Vitamix challenged me to develop a new recipe using the winter spice mix—in my very own Vitamix A3500 Ascent Series, I might add—I was absolutely elated!
I decided to make this winter spiced red lentil, root vegetable and coconut soup. Since that’s such a mouthful to say, let’s just call it a winter spiced soup for short! What I especially love about soup is that you can make it in large batches and freeze it, so you can just reheat and enjoy whenever you like (perfect for those lazy, hibernation days)! This winter spiced soup is honestly such a breeze to make – especially in a shiny, new Vitamix A3500 😉.
The machine, quite simply, is a dream! It took me a fraction of the time it normally would to make soup using an immersion blender, and spared me the huge mess afterwards too! The Vitamix A3500 has 19 speeds, a digital display, and automatic settings (including one for soup and ice cream!). What’s also amazing about it is the advanced technology – it can actually detect the type of blending container you put on top and will adjust its settings, accordingly. So, if you use the 64-oz, 16-oz or 8-oz container, it will know how long to blend.
For this winter spiced soup recipe, I cooked the ingredients first before adding to the blender, since it becomes more flavourful that way. But if you wanted to, you could simply add all your raw ingredients to the Vitamix and let it do its thing, since there is a setting that can heat/cook the soup while it’s blending. Okay, I’m really gonna have to stop myself from geeking out even more about the Vitamix and just get on to the recipe. So, here’s it is…
Winter Spiced Red Lentil, Root Vegetable and Coconut Soup
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried red lentils rinsed
- 1/2 butternut squash chopped into even cubes
- 3 carrots chopped
- 3 parsnips chopped
- 1 medium yellow onion chopped coarsely
- 3 cloves garlic minced finely
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp. winter spice mix
- 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 900 mL vegetable broth
- 400 mL coconut milk
- kosher or sea salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion and saute for a couple of minutes. Add garlic and continue to saute until onions are translucent.
- Add chopped carrots, parsnips, butternut squash and bay leaves to the pot, stirring continuously. Add winter spice mix, salt and black pepper to taste. Cook for 5 minutes until the vegetables start to soften.
- After you've rinsed your lentils, add to the pot. Add vegetable broth, coconut milk and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce to low heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Once simmered, remove bay leaves, turn heat off and set aside. Add mixture to your Vitamix and puree. I used setting 4 and pureed for 2 minutes to achieve my desired consistency.
- Serve either hot or cooled to room temperature. Enjoy!
Bon Appétit!
This post was done in partnership with The Feed Feed and Vitamix, but as always, all opinions are 100% my own.
