Carrot Rice Soup

My husband said this could be his new favorite soup.  If you have fresh ginger, feel free to use that instead of the powdered.  Also if you would like the soup even sweeter use two red peppers.

Ingredients

1 cup Lundberg Wild Blend Rice
2 lbs carrots, trimmed & peeled
2 large yellow onions, diced
1 red pepper, stem removed & cut in half
Balsamic glaze
2 large potatoes, skin removed then diced
5 large cloves garlic, minced
1 box unsalted vegetable stock
1 ½ t. ginger powder
1 15 oz. can cannellini beans, unsalted
1 15 oz. can butter beans, drained & rinsed
1 ½ t. dried thyme
1 t. onion powder
Salt & Pepper to taste

Instructions

Place the rice in a rice cooker and cook with 2 cups of water.

Place the carrots and red pepper on a baking dish.  Drizzle the balsamic glaze on top of the carrots.  Place in the broiler on HI until carrots soften and the red pepper blackens.
Remove from the oven and cool.  Remove the blackened skin from the pepper.  Cut the pepper and carrots in chunks.

Sauté the onion until caramelized then add the potatoes, garlic, vegetable stock and water.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat until the potatoes have softened.  Add the carrots and red pepper chunks to the soup.  Using an immersion blender, purify soup until smooth.

Next add the rice, butter beans, dried thyme, ginger powder, onion powder and salt & pepper to soup.  Continue to cook on low for 20 minutes or so and serve with a green salad and crusty bread.