Carrot soup

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I've had this recipe saved on my computer for about a year. I've made it several times and both me and J love it. I wanted to blog about it but couldn't remember where I had found it (stupid me saved it in my Google docs and didn't add the source) and I didn't want to claim it as mine. I knew it was somewhere online, most likely on a blog but not a food blog (as I wasn't really reading any food blogs a year ago). After lots of searching I FINALLY managed to find my source so here it is for you to enjoy!

Adapted from Stinkerpants.com

Ingredients:
2 pounds carrot, peeled and chopped
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 medium potato, chopped (optional, for heartier soup)
3-4 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onion
1-2 small cloves crushed garlic
1/3 cup chopped cashews or almonds or peanuts
(chicken)

Choose one:
1 cup milk
1 cup yogurt or buttermilk plus a little honey
1/2 pint heavy cream
3/4 cup sour cream (or creme fraiche)

Seasoning choices:
-2 pinches of nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon dried mint, dash of cinnamon
-1 teaspoon each of thyme, marjoram and basil
-1 teaspoon grated ginger

Place carrots, potato and stock in a medium sized stock pot and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer it for 12-15 minutes or until carrots are soft.

In a pan saute onions, garlic and nuts in butter. Towards the end of cooking, stir in the seasoning combo of your choice. Add the onion mix to the soup and puree everything with an immersion blender or a regular blender until smooth. Finally whisk in one of the dairy products.

* I've only tried the nutmeg-mint-cinnamon seasoning but I'm sure the other options are just as good. I usually use chicken stock though vegetable would work just as well and make it suitable for vegetarians. On the other hand if you really want to make sure it's non-veg you can add some shredded chicken when serving :)