Roasted Red Pepper, Carrot and Cumin Soup

8 mini sweet peppers (red, yellow or orange - or a mix), washed and dried
3 carrots, washed, peeled and cut into 3-inch pieces
2 14-ounce cans of vegetarian vegetable broth
4 ounces tomato paste
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp lemon juice
dash of cayenne pepper
fresh ground black pepper to taste

1. Pour vegetable broth into a soup pot and bring to a boil. Add in spices, carrots and tomato paste, and turn heat down to med-low to continue boiling gently.

2. While broth cooks: Wash and dry mini peppers. Line a baking sheet or small roasting pan with aluminum foil and arrange peppers so they are not touching each other. Move oven rack to middle position and set oven to broil. Roast the peppers in the oven until slightly charred, and their skins are bubbling, turning frequently. When done, pull off stems (should be pretty easy).

3. Add peppers and lemon juice to broth and simmer on low for 15 minutes, or until carrots are easily punctured by a fork. Let cool at least 10 minutes.

4. Working in small batches, puree the soup. If preferred, once all of the soup is pureed, use an immersion blender for a smoother soup. Otherwise, this soup is a little chunky.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Serving Size: Makes roughly 4-6 servings.

Number of Servings: 4

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user LSHAPIRO6.