Creamy Sweet Potato Soup / Gruber Farm CSA Week 3

Hello friends!

I guess the heat has something to do with the Summery produce that I’m still getting in my CSA. I was looking forward to Fall veggies – where are they?

In the box:

• watermelon
• eggplant
• sweet potatoes
• cucumbers
• green tomatoes
• muscadine grapes
• cherry tomatoes
• onions
• yellow squash

Almost every time I’ve gotten sweet potatoes, I’ve baked them. It was time for something new: soup!

Creamy Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 pound)
• 1 medium onion
• 4 cups (or one 32 oz. carton) low sodium, fat-free vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into small chunks. Place the sweet potatoes, onion, and broth in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.
2. Puree in a blender or food processor until smooth.
3. Return the soup to the saucepan and add milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Reheat and enjoy!

You’re probably like, “3 steps? Really? Sure.” Oh, but really. Let me show you.

Boil the veggies.

Transfer them to your food processor. Blend. Make a mess. Ignore that wine glass, it’s just there to look cool. It wasn’t full a few minutes before or anything.

Put the soup back in the pot, add spices, and heat until warm. 

Serve to anyone and everyone willing to eat it. They’re goanna love it!

Okay my soup loving friends, I’ve got a proposal of sorts. Do you have a favorite soup recipe that you’ve made several times? How about a special family recipe that has been passed down to you? Or what about a new favorite that you recently discovered?

Would you be interested in a healthy soup contest? Think about it and let me know. I’d love to host a contest on my blog where the winning recipe will be featured in an upcoming post and you’ll win a prize! I’d love to know if you’re interested. :)

I Love Baking, But I'm No Professional

Monday morning Amanda blogged about baking a loaf of bread we had both seen on Jenna's blog: Cinnamon Walnut Bread. All day long I thought about this bread. Cinnamon, carbs, cinnamon, carbs. I was even tempted to skip Boot Camp just so I would be eating it sooner. Alas, exercise is just as important as pleasing my palate, so I met up with Amanda and Mary for class.

Class consisted of:

• Warm-up laps (I missed bc I was late, oops), stretching
• 4 laps around the park, 40 lunges, 40 push-ups, 40 crunches, 40 supermans (supermen?)
• 3 laps around the park, 30 lunges, 30 push-ups, 30 crunches, 30 supermans
• 2 laps around the park, 20 lunges, 20 push-ups, 20 crunches, 20 supermans
• 1 lap around the park, 10 lunges, 10 push-ups, 10 crunches, 10 supermans
• and then we did rows, bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, mountain climbers, chest presses, jumping jacks, wide squat jumps for 45 seconds each
• Cool down stretching

Damn straight I was baking bread after that.

I used Jenna's recipe but made four changes...one because I'm sweet, one because I'm spicy, one because I'm creamy, and one because I'm dumb. Just wait.

First, I mixed the dry ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt

 Oh snap, I forgot the sugar. There we go.

 I then incorporated the wet ingredients into the dry:

• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 large egg

 I poured it into a greased loaf pan and baked for 35 minutes on 350*. 

 Then I attempted to clean up my mess. Told you I'm no profesh. 

And then Margaret called and I realized I forgot to fold in the nuts. The nuts for Cinnamon Walnut Bread. Really, Christina!?

Then, I committed my favorite baking sin. I opened the oven to take a peek and a pic. Sue me.

All mishaps aside, I created a beautiful loaf whose cinnamony sweet aroma permeated throughout my kitchen. 

The smell of this bread instantly erased all the push-ups and squats from my memory.

 I ate a big fat slice drizzled with honey.

And now I'm watching football. Life is good.