Bill and I just received an extremely generous thank you gift from my wonderful aunt and uncle. We spent many weekends over the winter watching their dog while they went skiing, and in return they surprised us with a Blendtec Blender! Bill and I have been wanting a Blendtec for months, we even put it on our vision board (For those of you who do not know what it vision board is, it is something that you create to try to attract the things you want in your life. This could be an object, a house, a soul mate, a job, etc. The idea is to use the pictures to visualize already having those things in your life. It is a fun, creative way to put all of your goals down on paper.). A Blendtec is similar to a Vitamix. It is a high speed blender that can make hot soup, cold ice cream, nut butters, home made flours, nut or seed milk, home made baby food, the list goes on. You also may know it from the “will it blend” videos. The Blendtec is known for blending the iPhone (we wouldn’t recommend trying it at home, we don’t think iPhone blending is covered under the warranty…)

For our first recipe using our Blendtec, we decided to make a delicious asparagus soup to have with dinner. We actually saw a recipe by Giada on The Food Network one day, and my aunt and grandmother had made asparagus soup in the past that was quite tasty. We decided to take our knowledge of a simple asparagus soup, and create a delicious one on our own.

*For those of you without a high speed blender, we of course will be giving the cooking instructions for how to make this soup without a blender. It is quite easy either way.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs fresh asparagus, ends removed, and chopped into 1-2 inch pieces
• 1 vidalia onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 quart (4 cups) Imagine Free Range Chicken Broth
• 1 tablespoon unrefined, virgin coconut oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Garnish:

• 2 tablespoons chopped chives
• 1 cup chopped prosciutto (or pancetta), sauteed
• Ground black pepper

Process:

1. In a large soup pot on medium heat, saute onion and garlic in coconut oil, adding salt and pepper to taste. Saute until the onion becomes translucent.
2. Add the asparagus to the pot, and cover with the chicken broth.
3. Cover the pot with a lid and boil the asparagus until soft and tender.
4. In a medium sized frying pan, saute prosciutto for 5 minutes, set aside.
5. Transfer the soup to a food processor, or using an immersion blender, process until smooth. (You want a smooth, creamy soup. No chunks of asparagus.)
6. Pour into soup bowls and sprinkle with ground pepper, prosciutto, and chives.

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This soup was delicious! It was simple to make, and extremely tasty. We only wished that we would have made this soup sooner, so we could have enjoyed it during the many cold winter evenings we had. It is, however, a great spring soup, with wonderful flavor that will please any house guest.