Curried Carrot Soup Recipe adapted from Simply in Season by Mary Beth Lind

HFFA Growing Home Local Food Club December 2016

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Step 1 COMBINE dry ingredients:

5 cups whole wheat or all purpose flour (substitute K2 SPELT FLOUR provided) 1 cup sugar 4 tsp baking powder 2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt cinnamon & allspice

Step 4 Drop onto baking sheets and bake at 375 for 20 to 30 minutes. Makes 2 dozen.

Q.

INGREDIENTS

Step 2 CUT IN :1 cup butter

Step 3 MIX IN:

2 cups SWEET POTATO purée 1 to 2 cups milk

A.

Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits Adapted from Chef Erik Kjaer's Pumpkin Drop Biscuits, featured in HFFA's first Family Food Class Get baking

with this

BONUS

RECIPE!

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. When oil shimmers, add curry powder and garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

2. Add ginger, onion, carrots, bay leaf, and broth, increase heat to medium high, and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, and simmer until carrots are soft when pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes. Discard bay leaf.

3. Working in batches, process soup in a blender until smooth. (Be very careful when blending the hot soup, as steam could blow off the blender lid.)

4. Pour soup into a clean pot and return to the stove over medium heat. 5. Stir in coconut milk and adjust seasoning as needed.

Garnish with a few flakes of toasted coconut or pepitas, if using. Serve with drop biscuits (recipe below) and MICROGREENS on the side. Finish off with COOKIES for dessert!

DIRECTIONS

1 Tbsp canola oil 1 pound CARROTS, peeled and sliced into 2 tsp curry powder 1/4" thick rounds 1 medium clove GARLIC, smashed 1 medium bay leaf 1 half-inch piece of ginger, peeled and smashed 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth 1/2 medium onion, coarsely chopped 1/2 cup canned coconut milk or cream (or use LEEKS provided in place of onion) Toasted unsweetened coconut flakes or pepitas (pumpkin seeds), for garnish (optional)

INGREDIENTS

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Iron Beta-Carotene

Magnesium

Antioxidants

Nutrition Report Card

The Local Food Club is a project of Headwaters Food & Farming Alliance, in partnership with Headwaters Communities in Action with support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation..

food@headwaterscommunities.org hffa.ca/farmtoschool @HeadwatersFood

While we may not all be able to get 100% of our nutrition from local foods, considering the list of vegetable, fruit, grain, legume, dairy and meat producers in our program alone, it certainly is a higher percentage than you'd think! That said, eating local is also about appreciating and carefully selecting "exotics" - the foods and flavours that we can only get from other parts of the world where the climate is more suitable for growing them. This month's recipe sees our locally available foods come together in harmony with exotic flavours like curry, cinnamon and ginger...make Peace on Earth through food!

Cinnamon is one powerful spice, from the inner bark of certain tree species, primarily from Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Besides being a signature of the holiday season (put a few sticks in a pot on low heat with water and orange slices for a delicious home fragrance), it's full of antioxidants - vitamins that fight disease and damage in your body. Just 1 teaspoon of cinnamon has as much antioxidant potency as 1/2 cup of blueberries! It also has strong anti-bacterial properties. There are actually hundreds of types of cinnamon, but the two main varieties sold in Canada are Cassia and Ceylon. Both have health benefits, but Ceylon cinnamon has reduced amounts of Coumarin, a chemical that can thin the blood and impact the liver. If you use cinnamon regularly, consider using the Ceylon variety.

Back home again, carrots are one of our most reliable local crops available through the winter from cold storage. Bugs Bunny is on to something, as carrots have many nutritional benefits. Their bright orange colour comes from beta-carotene, which we metabolize into vitamin A. Carrots are also high in fibre and potassium. That's what's up, Doc! The most common carrot colour is orange, but purple, yellow, white and red varieties exist and have increased in popularity at farmers' markets.

The garnish for your soup packs a lot of nutrition into a small package. Pumpkin seeds or pepitas (Spanish term, refers to the green seed inside the white shell) are chock full of protein. In fact, a 1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds has 7 grams of protein, the same amount as 1 ounce of meat, or just under 1/2 a serving. Pepitas are also very high in iron, fibre and magnesium. So go ahead and garnish with gusto!

Enjoy!

HFFA Growing Home Local Food Club December 2016

Curried Carrot Soup

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Fiddle Foot Farm fiddlefootfarm.com

Am Braigh Farm ambraighfarm.com

K2 Milling k2milling.blogspot.ca

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Pumpkin seeds are very high in iron which helps build strong blood.

The pre-cursor to vitamin A, carrots and sweet potatoes are exceptionally high in this eye boosting vitamin.

This quiet “queen” of the macro-mineral world is present in almost all cells in the human body. It’s responsible for many enzymatic activities like helping us digest the food we eat! Pumpkin seeds are very high in magnesium.

These disease fighting compounds are very high in cinnamon, curry powder and ginger. Boost your immune system and use these spices boldly!

Reid's Potatoes & Farm Market reidspotatoes.com

Amanda's Country Bakery amandascountrybakery.ca

Hidden Meadows Farmhiddenmeadowsfarmcaledonon.blogspot.ca