You don’t have to roast the tomatoes and peppers, but it does give it such a nice smokey flavour. It really ups this soups game.

Remember, healthy eating doesn’t have to be complicated, it just has to taste delicious.

Serves 4 

Ingredients

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 large yellow bell peppers, seeded and halved

2 tomatoes, halved

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 large carrots, finely chopped

3 large celery stalks, finely chopped

1 liter low sodium vegetable stock (or 4 cups homemade)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon each of dried basil, oregano, and thyme (use 1 tablespoon each of fresh if in season)

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

Fresh ground pepper to taste

Fresh ground coriander to taste

1 can (approximately 2 cups) white kidney beans, or chickpeas

2 tablespoons lemon juice (optional)

Optional: I added spinach to give it an extra nutrient boost. 

Directions

Preheat the broiler to high. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange yellow pepper, and tomatoes, onto baking sheet. Broil the vegetables until they start to turn a golden brown, approximately 5-8 minutes.

While the vegetables are in the oven, heat olive oil in large soup pot, over high heat. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery. Reduce heat to medium high and cook vegetables until onions turn translucent and carrots begin to get tender. This will take approximately five minutes. Add all of your spices and stir well. If you are using white wine, add it now. Cook for another 2 minutes to release the flavors and aroma of the spices.

Pour in vegetable stock and bring to a gentle boil. Remove the vegetables from the oven and carefully remove the skins from the pepper, and tomatoes. With a handheld blender (or regular blender) puree the pepper and tomatoes until there are no more chunks. Add processed vegetables to the soup pot, stir, lower heat and simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes.