Now that it's summer I am all about wanting to eat #CHILLEDSOUPS (ha).

I've been making this recipe, which I got from my aunt and I think originally came out of the instruction book for her blender or something, but it's a total winner. It's also good hot, but I particularly like it chilled. Super easy and tasty, very low calorie!

CREAMY CARROT SOUP
2 Tbsp. butter
1 c. finely chopped onions
1.5 lbs. carrots, cleaned and sliced (about 5 cups)
.5 tsp. salt
ground black pepper, about 4 turns of a mill
4 cups chicken stock
.25 c. part-skim ricotta
2 Tbsp. port wine
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill, thyme, or other herb

Instructions:
- Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the onions. Cook until wilted.
- Add the carrots, salt, pepper, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Add the Ricotta and puree everything with a stick blender, or do it in a smaller blender/food processor in batches.
- Bring the puree to a boil and add the port and herbs, stirring through. Can add more for garnish. Serve hot, or chill.

Makes 6 servings @ 139 calories each.

Notes:
- The port REALLY makes this...I definitely recommend just getting a cheap bottle for cooking with.
- Swapping to fat-free ricotta drops the calories to 90/serving. I personally can't taste a difference.
- You could also obviously use vegetable stock if you prefer.
- Trader Joe's sells baby carrots in a 1.5 pound bag (probably other places too). These don't need to be chopped or peeled, you can just dump the whole bag in there. Also, 4 cups of stock is a quart, which is the size most of those prepackaged containers are, so there's another thing you can just dump in without prepping/measuring if you'd like.