Winter Root Vegetable Soup with Coconut Cream

Having been an organic farmer (in what seems like a past life) my body naturally craves those grounding root vegetables as soon as the weather turns cold. I usually plant my own garden with root veggies in the late summer hoping that my son doesn't make a game out of pulling them all out of the ground before mid winter. This year I was not so lucky. Everything was gone by November (but those carrots were soooo sweet!) I created this next recipe during a week of the warm winter cleansing workshop I taught.

Winter Root Vegetable Soup

3 tablespoons coconut oil

2 onions sliced
2 carrots sliced

2 parsnips peeled and sliced
2 turnips cubed
1 cup celery root cubed (1 medium sized root, outside thick skin removed)
1/2 cabbage sliced
2 tablespoons peeled chopped ginger
3 garlic cloves chopped
2-3 teaspoons dried thyme
1 medium sized butternut squash peeled and cubed
3 pears (preferably bosc) cubed
1 can coconut milk
5-6 cups vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste

On medium heat melt coconut oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the onions, garlic, carrots, parsnips, turnips, and celery root (shown in photo above) and saute for 10 minutes until roots begin to soften. Next add the cabbage, ginger, and thyme and stir until cabbage starts to soften. Last add the broth (make sure all vegetables are covered. Add more broth at this point if needed), winter squash, pears, and coconut milk (I like to reserve some of the cream from the top of the can of coconut milk to swirl on each bowl I serve). Bring to a boil and simmer on low heat until all vegetables are soft (about 25-30 minutes). Puree in a blender, add salt and pepper to taste as well as more broth if you desire a thinner consistency.