Sweet Potato Craze

Since the weather has been bitter I have been in a soup craze for this week and decided to use up what was left in my refrigerator to make a carrot, curried, sweet potato soup!  In Mark Bittman’s cook book, he suggests a great way to give a soup more body is to use potatoes, so I used what I had – sweet potato- along with various other ingredients that included:

·  2 teaspoons canola oil
·  1/2 cup chopped shallots
·  3 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled sweet potato
·  1 1/2 cups (1/4-inch) sliced peeled carrots
·  1 tablespoon grated ginger
·  2 teaspoons curry powder
·  3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
·  1/2 teaspoon salt

- I was guided by Bittman’s potato soup recipes on page 132

To substitute the shallots I used what I had, an onion. I also decided to add rosemary and thyme instead of the curry and a little bit of garlic for a nice flavor. The process of cutting the vegetables and boiling them together took roughly 30 minutes, during which I was making sweet potato cookies as well. When it was time to puree the soup to make it smoother it didn’t occur to me that my soup would fly everywhere when pureed because of the high temperature. Lesson learned. However, the soup turned out excellent in the end.

The sweet potato cookies were just something that I was curious about now learning how to bake gluten free recipes. Baking takes much more time especially when its gluten free. The cost of gluten free pre- blended flour is very pricey but the time to make your own from scratch is also a challenge I face when baking gluten free. Although, these are fun experiences, for instance, this recipe recommended oat flour as a gluten free option; however, I decided to use the rest of my flour and concocted a blend of:  coconut, tapioca, white rice, and oats.

Ingredients include
·  2 cups Gluten Free Oat Flour

·  1 teaspoon Baking Soda

·  3/4 teaspoon fine Sea Salt

·  1/2 teaspoon Cardamom – mixed cinnamon and nutmeg

·  1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon

·  3/4 cup (1 large) mashed Sweet Potato

·  1/2 cup Virgin Coconut Oil, melted

·  3/4 cup Light Unsweetened Coconut Milk – used soy milk

·  5 droppers full Vanilla Stevia Drops

- I added a few chocolate chips and nuts to give it texture and more flavor
- recipe is from pinterest