As a kid I was quite enamored with the Stone Soup story. So much so, that in the winter I would stoke up an electric coiled burner on my back yard porch (with no adult supervision, need you ask... it was the 70's) and require each kid in the neighborhood to give me a vegetable for "the stone soup"... by the end of the afternoon we would feast on what usually turned out to be a "carrot potato soup" since none of us knew that we should have rounded out our vegetable selection to include weird things like celery and onions.

Dorie's soup reminded me a little of my childhood carrot concoction. I wish I knew about immersion blenders back then... our stone soup's texture would have been much more pleasing.

Yes, I did puree this soup... I tend to puree all vegetable soups. I have found it to be a good defense against kids picking out unloved vegetables from the soup.

When it's pureed the texture is pleasing, and nobody knows what the HELL I put in it!

I have to admit I was skeptical about the rosemary sprig in the soup, but as usual Dorie surprised me with a wonderful combination... I now really love carrot and rosemary together. Another note about this recipe: it called for 6 cups of broth, when I got to 4 cups I stopped... because to me if I added anymore liquid the soup would have been too thin for a puree. I guess it is a personal preference, but I like a creamy soup to be thick also.

A note to the Doristas I didn't make the last two recipes because making hummus for a French cooking group didn't appeal to me, and the Apple Almond Tart sounded wonderful... but my little pastry chef has nut allergies.

My childhood food allergies have been recently acting up too, so there will probably be more recipes that I will have to obstinate from cooking.

I can't tell you what a downer it is to have food allergies when you are a foodie... but on the other hand my daughter has become an amazing baker for her age because she feels safest eating desserts she has made herself.

For me... growing up so conscious of what I put into my mouth, for fear of breaking out in a mass of hives or have to rush to the bathroom, has made me hyper-aware of food ingredients which has translated into good cooking skills...

so there are always blessings hidden in our curses.

So glad to be back!!!

Notes: This recipe looks a lot like Dorie's:

Spur-Of-The-Moment Vegetable Soup

Note: As a member of French Friday's with Dorie I am not allowed to print the recipe. I invite you to take a look at this wonderful cookbook "Around My French Table" if you are interested in this or any other recipe I review.