Zucchini Soup with Curry Spice

HELP! My neighbor keeps bringing me zucchini after I told her I LOVE zucchini!  I can't use it as fast as she is bringing it to me. Yesterday, I made some blender muffins with oats, banana, chocolate chips, walnuts, coconut, and zucchini.  A weird combination but I love these muffins and they freeze well.  I also made some Double Chocolate Zucchini muffins.  Seriously, these muffins taste like chocolate cupcakes.  So good!  After all the baking was done, I decided to try a new zucchini recipe... Cream of Zucchini Soup from one of my very favorite food blogs www.skinnytaste.com.

I read many reviews of this recipe before making the soup. A few folks felt the soup was kind of bland so they mentioned some alterations they made to make the soup a bit more to their liking.  I took a few ideas and ran with it. The original recipe calls for zucchini, chicken broth, onion, garlic, and a little light sour cream.  I left out the sour cream but am swirling a little Greek yogurt into my soup when I eat it.  I also added carrots, curry powder, and honey to my soup.  In addition, I sautéed my veggies a little while in a bit of extra virgin olive oil before adding in the chicken broth. The original recipe calls for throwing all ingredients in a pot, simmering, and blending. I thought the sautéing might make the soup a bit more flavorful.  I also read that some folks enjoy this soup cold. I just tried a bite of cold soup and it is quite flavorful; I am just not sure if I am a fan of cold soup or not.  Finally, I read in the reviews that this soup freezes well.  Maybe I can make up a bunch of this soup and freeze it so this zucchini does NOT go to waste!

Zucchini Soup with Curry Spice

Adapted from www.skinnytaste.com

Original Recipe Link is HERE.

Ingredients:

• 1 to 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 medium sized sweet onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 medium zucchini, skin on cut in large chunks
• 2 to 3 small to medium sized carrots, chopped
• 32 oz.  Swanson chicken broth (or vegetable)
• 2 teaspoons curry powder (or a little more if desired)
• 2 to 3 teaspoons honey
• kosher salt and black pepper to taste
• optional: plain Greek yogurt to stir into each bowl of soup

Directions:

1. In a large pot over medium heat, heat the oil.  Add in the onion and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Onions will begin to soften.  Add in the zucchini, garlic, and carrots, and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 3 to 4 minutes.
2. Add in the chicken broth and bring to a boil over medium high heat.
3. Lower heat, cover, and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and purée with an immersion blender.  Add in the curry powder and honey.  Blend in with the immersion blender. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can blend your soup in a traditional blender; just be very careful, as hot soup can make the lid fly off resulting in burns. If using a traditional blender, you may wish to just blend your soup in batches (a little soup at a time).
5. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust to taste. If soup seems bitter, add in a bit more honey. Serve hot.  If desired, stir about 1 tablespoon of plain Greek yogurt into each bowl of soup.