Creamy Vegetable Soup

There is rarely a day without a bowl of heartwarming soup in my household. The first thing we do when we come back home after a tiring day at school or work is to heat up a large pot of soup I've cooked beforehand. Then, we all sit together at the table and take delight in silent eating of our, often generous, portion.

The soup holds the second position in our menu of the day (the breakfast is number one, of course). As long as I have a large pot ready, I'm not so worried my kids will be hungry. In fact, they've managed to learn how to survive on soup only. Not that I don't cook the main dish any more, but while they do get fussy about the main meals from time to time, they seem to be happy with any bowl of soup I give them.

Lightly sweetened with aromatic fennel seeds, this soup is full of goodness in disguise. And my motto is 'The more vegetables, the better'.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 celeriac
• 3 large carrots
• 1 parsnip
• 2 potatoes
• 2 onions
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 leaf of celeriac, may be dried
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 5 bay leaves
• 6 allspice grains
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• herb salt, Himalayan salt and pepper, to taste
• coconut oil, for frying

Preparation:

1. Peel and wash all the vegetables. Roughly chop the celeriac, parsnip and onions. Fry them with a lug of coconut oil until brown and lightly soft on both sides.
2. Put the veggies into a pot, add peeled and roughly chopped carrots and potatoes. Cover with water, add the  garlic, celeriac leaf and spices and bring to the boil.
3. Simmer on a medium-low heat until the vegetables have cooked.
4. Let it cool a bit and then blend everything well until the consistency is creamy and smooth. Discard the bay leaves and allspice grains.
5. Bring the soup to the boil again and then stir in the cream slowly.
6. Season to perfection with salt and pepper.
7. When the soup has slightly cooled, pour in the olive oil and give it a good stir.
8. Serve with some parsley sprinkled on top and toasted bread, e.g. easy-peasy wheat-free bread.