Cream of carrot soup is one of those luscious soup recipes that is a quick and easy every day soup to prepare, but is elegant enough for even the nicest dinner parties.

The great part is that kids will probably love it and not even now that it is a vegetable soup.

This version is a low fat but tasty, easy soup recipe.

Make it a vegetarian soup by using vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.

Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cups carrots, sliced
1 potato, peeled and diced
1 - 10 ounce can chicken broth or vegetable
1 soup can water
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon leaves
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 cup milk

Directions:
Sauté garlic and onion in butter or margarine. Add carrots and potato. Stir to coat with the butter or margarine. Add chicken broth, water, salt, tarragon and pepper. Simmer, covered, over medium heat for 15 minutes until vegetables are well cooked.

Purée the soup in batches using a blender, hand blender or food processor until it is smooth. Pour the soup back into saucepan. Stir in milk. Heat and serve.

Makes 5 cups.

• You can use cream instead of milk in this soup for a truly creamy soup. I personally find carrot soup quite rich enough without the cream and using milk cuts down on the fat content of the recipe considerably.
• Make it vegetarian by using an equal amount of vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth.