Sweet Potato Soup

With the colder weather, I have a hankering for vegetables other than my usual summer fare of salads. Last weekend I picked up some sweet potatoes, but never did anything with them because I had also made a huge stew in the crockpot, and lived on that all week. Yesterday, I picked up a few more items at the store, planning on doing "something" with them.

I finally decided to do a crossover between a breakfast "cereal" type mixture (I regularly make "cereal" out of cooked bananas cream and cinnamon) and a vegetable soup. I looked up on the net for recipes, and found a few good foundations, and then went and did my own thing :)

The ingredients were simple; sweet potatoes (2), winter squash (butternut in this case - about half that package)), Macintosh apple (1), cauliflower (1 bag of frozen), onion (1), carrots (baby cut), bell pepper (1 - that I had gotten from a guy at work), Cinnamon, ground ginger, pumpkin pie spice, and a dash of vanilla.

The sweet potatoes and apple were peeled and diced, the squash was diced - all into about 2" chunks. I layered all the vegies and spices (not the vanilla) in the crockpot with about 1 cup of water.

Now, every "soup" recipe wanted me to use 5 cups of broth (vegie or chicken), then after cooking place in a blender to puree'. Since I knew I wouldn't do that, I wanted to steam the vegies to soften them. After 4 hours on high, I used a pastry cutter to "mash" the vegies. I still left lumps so it was a cross between a bisque and a soup. Then I added a bit of cream and cut in an 8 oz block of cream cheese (I use the 1/3 fat stuff to reduce calories). You could easily use coconut milk or almond milk if avoiding animal products. It is at that point that I decided to add the vanilla to complement the spices

After adding in a few more spices and another cup or two of water, I cooked on high for an hour, after which the appliance went to "warm" until I woke up this morning and turned it off (yes, I started the soup late). The visual result was a nice creamy soup with soft, small chunks of vegies, in which the green peppers add a nice variation to the color.

The results were great! I had a bit straight - which makes for a slightly sweet lunch/dinner type soup.Then I added a bit of real maple syrup, which makes it into a great breakfasty type dish. I can see adding in oatmeal for a hearty breakfast too.

This could be fun to play with in a desert too; leave out the water added at the end and add some sort of setting agent, pour it on top of a cream cheese mixture for a healthier cheesecake, or pour in a pie crust and bake until set. 

Oh, and for a more complete meal type dish, I could see adding in sausage for protein - especially a mapple or apple sausage, but I think a savory sausage would work as well. Not sure about a hot sausage - although could be interesting to try.

I'll be eating well this week - hope you all cook up some good autumn foods to welcome you to the cooler weather.

Comments

[Cop Car]

You left me in the dust. I was right there with you except for the cauliflower (which I would use with other cruciferous veggies), the cream and the syrup. (I'm dithering on the cream cheese.) I'll have to give it a try, thanks! I've never made a soup with pumpkin.

[Cop Car]

Pumpkin? Where did I get pumpkin? You wrote "Sweet Potato"!!!

[bogie]

I guess you could use pumpkin :)

Cauliflower is great added to almost anything since it really doesn't have a taste of its own, but will pick up flavors from the dish. It mashes extremely well too.

[Cop Car]

Our taste buds differ. Cauliflower has much flavor in my mouth and is too strong to use with veggies other than the cruciferous ones. Interesting. Yes, cauliflower does mash well.

[bogie]

If added to something bland, like mashed potatoes, I get a hint of cauliflower, but no more. Now "raw" cauliflower does have a stronger taste, but cooked, at least to me, is much more benign.

[Cop Car]

Good point about the more benign taste of the cooked veggie. Perhaps I merely have a mental block?