Instead of baby carrots you could use a few regular size carrots (probably about 2 to equal 2 oz.). It doesn’t make a difference, I just tend to buy baby carrots as I’m more likely to snack on those than regular sized carrots. But that’s just me. -You could certainly use whole milk or any milk in place of the cream here. But the cream makes it, well, creamy, so there’s that. -This soup is really delicious even without the cream and cheese. So if you need to keep it dairy free, I’d still recommend this soup, but I’d probably add a little more stock or some soy milk in place of the cream so the texture isn’t too thick.