roasted root veggie soup

Meatless, but 'meaty' (Hubby's description). Easy, delicious, and no broth or stock needed! I promise it will warm you right down to your toes.

Ingredients:

2 lg. yellow onions
1 med. sweet potato
2-3 carrots
2 cloves garlic (optional)
2 bay leaves
1tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp peppercorns (or 1/4 tsp pepper)
10-12 potatoes
olive oil
kosher salt
pepper
milk or rice milk

~ wash onions (don't remove skins!), scrub sw. potato and carrots

~ peel all of the above, putting peelings and onion skins into a large soup pot; set aside veggies

~ add garlic (unpeeled), bay leaves, salt and pepper to pot and pour in enough water to cover by about an inch (6-8 cups); heat to boiling, cover, and reduce to a simmer

~ roughly chop onions, carrots, and sw. potato; peel and chop potatoes

~ put all veggies into a large roasting pan or glass baking dish (my 9x13 is the perfect size), drizzle generously with olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper to taste

~ leave peelings simmering while roasting veggies in a 350* oven for 45min to an hour (you want them nicely browned, but not burnt)

~ when veggies are done, strain solids from the lovely vegetable broth, add the roasted veggies to the broth along with enough water to just cover; bring to a boil, then simmer for 20min to a half hour, or until veggies have softened

~ using a stick blender (or transferring in batches to a conventional blender), puree until desired texture is reached

~ soup will be very thick, so after blending add milk (or rice milk) until soup is the consistency you like

~ serve with some homemade bread for the perfect winter supper

I've got my broth simmering and my bread baking for tonight's supper- the whole house smells heavenly!