Carrot Beet and Ginger Soup

Courtesy of a friend of mine, I have an excellent and simple recipe for a carrot-beet soup. The only downside? It involves using mustard, which is ungodly hard to find because pretty much all of them have the ambiguous "natural flavorings" or white distilled vinegar, neither of which can be trusted. So I substituted ground mustard and rice vinegar(I think cider would work fine as well). The recipe calls for an equal amount of beets as carrots but since I use the smaller bunch carrots(which you always should if you're making soup, as they are much sweeter and better flavor) I always use more carrots than beets. Probably because I like carrots more than beets as well, but whatever.

Carrot Beet and Ginger Soup

7 carrots, roughly chopped

7 beets, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger

2 tablespoons dark amber maple syrup

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon ground mustard

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Peel the beets and chop them well. Don't bother peeling the carrots, just scrub the outside with the rough side of a sponge then chop.

2. Add olive oil, ginger, beets, and carrots to a large pot and saute until soft.

3. When soft, add maple syrup, vinegar, and ground mustard and stir well. Add water until the vegetables are covered and bring to boil and simmer for 20-25 minutes.

4. Put the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add salt and pepper as needed.