One of my favorite things about cooking is being with people. I think that’s one of my favorite things about climbing too, the community and the stories that come out of climbing adventures. More often than not the memories that stick out in my mind about a climbing day surround the people, not necessarily the climbs that were done. I find that food provides similar experiences and stories shared amongst friends.

This time of year my CSA box is filled with all the yummy ingredients for good soups. Bright red and green peppers, plump dry farmed tomatos, creamy yellow potatoes, vibrants greens, and so on. The timing couldn’t be more perfect as we just had a snowstorm in Yosemite, and soup always seems like a fitting meal when the trees and dirt are dusted in white.

I cannot take credit for one of my favorite soup recipes, in fact I can’t take credit for many of the things that I cook. Most of my recipes have come from family and friends, or friends of the past. This recipe in particular comes from someone who had a son with a dairy allergy when he was very young. It was such a convenient thing for me, not for him of course, to have the same allergy. Carrie (his mom), came up or researched recipe upon recipe that were safe for Ethan to eat, and subsequently safe for me to eat. It was perfect, as I used to be someone who would eat the same thing for weeks in a row, and suddenly I had more recipes to choose from than I knew what to do with. I cannot tell you how many burritos I used to eat, not necessarily because I was in love with burritos but because it was easy and familiar. As soon as Carrie would send along a recipe, I would automatically get into cooking that all the time, and this soup is no exception. It’s very easy and very easy to use up food that you might have stashed in the fridge. Unfortunately for me, Ethan outgrew his dairy allergy a few years ago, and so I’ve had to venture out on my own and diversify my eating habits.

When I made this last night, one of my best friends Justin called. Nothing in particular, we chatted about dogs, Yosemite, climbing, and food. Through my chopping and mixing he asked what I was doing.

“Making dinner.” I said, before realizing it was 5pm. Yes, one of my big faults is that when left to my own devices, I revert to grandparent schedule. Eating at 5pm, and in bed ready for sleep at 8pm. I’m not sure where this comes from, but I receive endless grief from my friends for it. I’ve been training hard over the past few years to outgrow my schedule and normally make it to double digits, but last night I regressed…

Trying to recover from getting laughed at, I quickly followed, “Oh, doesn’t Becky (his awesome girlfriend) not like peppers?”

“Not particularly.” He replied.

“You should definitely try this recipe on her, it’s amazing.”

So, Justin, here you go, I hope it goes over well 🙂 And now, just like cooking does, every time I make this soup in the future, I’ll be sure to think about him, Becky and Turtle (his awesome little lady dog).

I now have this pumpkin from the box last week, if anyone out there has a good pumpkin soup recipe, please let me know! Especially if it’s stovetop – I got a bit keen after reading an induction hob review on some site and now I’ve got one in the mail on its way to me, so I want to try it out!

Enjoy!

Carrie’s Roasted Red Pepper Soup:

2 Red Bell Peppers

2.25 pounds of tomatoes

1 yellow onion

2 – 3 cloves of garlic

2 large potatoes

Salt and Pepper

Olive Oil

Basil

Thyme

2 cups vegetable broth

Quarter peppers and tomatoes and chop potatoes into 1″ cubes. Cut onion into thick slices. Put in roasting pan with garlic. Coat in olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast at 450 degrees for 50 minutes. Puree in blender with broth and herbs.