These past two weeks my CSA boxes contained some very large bags of carrots, and so I decided to put them to good use before the first bag began to go bad. Because time is often of the essence in my world (and probably yours, too), I decided to do all the prep and cooking in advance so I could finish up the final steps quickly on Friday after I got home from work. It worked great, and the color of the final product reminded me of sunrise — warm, inviting, and full of hope.

1 medium onion, chopped coarse
6-8 large carrots, peeled
1 large (2 medium) tomato, chopped coarse
1 medium white potato, approx 1-inch dice
3 large bell peppers (any combination of red, yellow, or orange), cored, seeded and chopped
1/2 jalapeno pepper (seeds removed)
3 tsp. olive oil
4 cups water
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Heat the olive oil on high heat, add the onions, and reduce the heat to medium while you continue chopping vegetables. Stir occasionally as you work, and remove from the heat once the onions begin to brown at the edges.

Add the potato, peppers, jalapeño, and tomatoes, plus 4 cups of water. Turn up the heat, cover, and allow vegetable mixture to come to a boil. Turn down the heat to simmer, and cook for 1 hour until vegetables are soft. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Use an immersion blender (or food processor, or standard blender) to pulverize the contents of the pot into a beautiful orange, the color of autumn sunrise. Return to stove on medium heat, cover, and heat gently until ready to serve. Bon appetit!