Persian Carrot Soup

This soup may not sound too appetizing, but it is very good (and dangerous... I burned myself THREE times making it!).  It comes from my Congressional Club cookbook, and it is the recipe of the California Representative Henry Waxman.
Note: I 1/2d the recipe, and it was a little lemony, so I'd go light on the lemon juice.  I also used canned carrots, which worked just fine!

Persian Carrot Soup
2 t olive oil
2 large onions, diced (onion powder)
12 cloves garlic, minced (garlic powder)
10 cups chicken broth
2 pounds frozen carrots, 1/4" slices
2 bay leaves
5 T lemon juice
2 t sugar (I didn't have "regular sugar" so I used brown sugar.)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and garlic.  Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. (I just added the oil and powders, then moved to step 2 without cooking for 5 minutes.)
2. Add the broth, carrots, and bay leaves.  Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to medium-low.  Simmer 35 - 45 minutes, until the carrots are tender.  Discard the bay leaf.
3. Blend.  Add the lemon juice, sugar, salt, and pepper.
4. Serve hot or cold.

Serves 8

This soup was very rich and creamy.  Most creamy soups are unhealthy because they are thickened with, well, cream.  This one was thickened with the blended carrots, though, so it was healthy.

(There are no pictures.  As mentioned earlier, I burned myself while cooking, and I was almost going to be whiney enough not to eat, but Chris finished blending the soup.  I felt really bad not eating it when he had been sweet enough to finish it, so I ate under protest.  There are no pictures because I was... protesting...)