Roasted Red Pepper Soup and Strawberry Balsamic Salad

I got into "soup mode" a little early - mid September - but I think that's OK. I got it in my head that a red soup would be pretty, especially for my scrappy partner Megan who was coming over that night for some scrapbooking. I leafed through a few soup recipe books (haha, I have 2 that are just soups!), and saw a few red pepper soup recipes but nothing seemed quite right. One was sorta mexican-flavored-ish and while that wasn't what I was going for, that is how I ended up and it turned out really good. I didn't write it down but I think the recipe below is pretty close!

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

1 box of Swanson chicken broth (I think it is 3.5-4 cups)

1 jar of roasted red peppers, rinsed so that all charred skin is removed, chopped

1 bag of frozen mirepoix (or cut up 1 onion, 2 carrots, and 2 stalks celery)

4-5 large cloves of garlic, pressed

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon coriander

salt and pepper to taste

sour cream or heavy cream, cilantro , wedge of lime to serve

Heat the broth and add the mirepoix and garlic-cook to boil. Reduce heat to simmer and make sure veggies are cooked through. Add the red peppers and lime juice. Use your submersion blender to blend the mixture into a smooth consistency. Add the seasonings and add cream if you like. Serve with a dollup of sour cream and cilantro on top. Or use heavy cream and make a decorative swirl... turned out to be harder than it looked!

Strawberry Balsamic Salad
We enjoyed the soup and then had the salad with grilled chicken. The salad consisted of lettuce, strawberries, red onions, splenda-cinnamon pecans, shaved parmesan, and Ken's Steakhouse Balsamic Dressing... it turned out to be a tasty combination. I'll skip the measurements - just add as much as you want of your favorite toppings. Here is a photo....