Roasted Root Vegetable & Apple Soup

Root veggies, apples and soup... oh my! The three best aspects of fall. This is one of my favorite fall soups. If you are a fan of roasted root veggies and baked apples, you will love this soup! The best part, you can get (almost) all the ingredients for this soup from your local farmers market!

Purchasing organic, local and in-season produce is one of the best investments you can make for your health, community and planet. Pesticides, herbicides and fungicides that are sprayed on crops don't just kill the unwanted bugs and weeds, these chemicals also wreak havoc as they pass through our bodies, land and water.

Let's go through a little example. Imagine taking a bite into a crisp, fresh non-organic apple. Of the 42 different pesticides found on conventionally-grown apples, 10 of these are known neurotoxins and another 7 are carcinogenic. Sound tasty? I didn't think so. Apples aren't the only pesticide-rich produce we consume. Strawberries, corn, potatoes, and spinach are also among the most potent.

Although in theory eating 100% organic would be the best, we all know that financially this can be difficult. If so, here is a list of the 12 products that you should try to always purchase organic, and another 15 that you can get away with purchasing non-organic.

Now that you have an idea of where to purchase your ingredients, let's get cooking! Here is my absolute favorite fall soup recipe. I've used sweet potatoes as the main root vegetable. However if you have something else on hand (i.e. winter squash), please feel free to swap that in... just make sure to adjust the roasting time.

Roasted Root Vegetable & Apple Soup

~ Serves 4-6~ 

Time: 60 min

Ingredients:

~ 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

~ 1 large turnip, peeled and diced

~ 2 shallots, sliced thin

~ 2 apples, peeled and diced *** save peels!!

~ 1/4 cup walnut oil (or EVOO)

~ 1/4 cup honey or maple syrup (I used honey... but maple syrup would work very well!)

~ 4 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped

~ 1 teaspoon of each: cinnamon, clove, pepper

~ 2 teaspoons sea salt

~ 4 cups vegetable broth (preferably homemade)

~ 1/2 cup white wine

~ Peels from above apples

~ 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped

~ (optional) coconut milk

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 375 F

2. Combine sweet potatoes, turnip, shallots and apples in two rimmed baking sheets. 

3. In a small bowl combine oil, honey (or maple syrup), rosemary, spices and sea salt. Mix well and pour over root veggies/apples. Toss well to make sure veggies/apples are fully coated. 

4. Bake for 35-45 minutes, tossing often, until veggies are very tender. 

5. While veggie/apple mixture bakes, heat veggie broth, wine, apple peels and rosemary in a large pot over medium-high heat. Simmer until reduced by 1/3. Should take about 25 minutes. 

6. Once reduced, cover and let sit until veggies are done. When veggies are ready, strain out rosemary and apple peels. 

7. Working in small batches, combine apple/veggie mixture and broth in high speed blender and puree until smooth. Transfer back to large pot on stove to reheat. 

8. When ready to eat, ladle soup into bowls, drizzle small amount of coconut milk on top and swirl with toothpick or chopstick. Garnish with fresh rosemary. Eat and enjoy!