Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup

adapted from Rachel Ray's Smoky-Spicy Sweet Potato Soup

Soup is not something that I normally love. Don't get me wrong. I do like soup. But it has to be good. Really good, in order for me to enjoy it. However, I love sweet potatoes, I love bacon (who doesn't!?) and I love spicy stuff. So I decided to give this recipe a whirl. And if you don't don't like bacon or want a vegetarian version, just don't add the bacon as a garnish. Easy Peasy.

My rating: ★★★★★

After a few minor adjustments, this soup has become my favorite soup ever. Seriously. I like my soup to be chunky and I love cheese, so I added feta and extra bacon. I have already made this soup three times since I first found the recipe three months ago. However, I don't recommend this as a family meal, unless of course your kids like hot stuff. It definitely has a kick to it! 

Ingredients

• 4 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced
• salt to taste
• 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large carrot, peeled and shredded
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped, plus 2 teaspoons of adobo sauce
• 5 sprigs of thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 3 Tablespoons milk (I used 1%, but you could use anything)
• 1 teaspoon grated peel and juice of 1 orange
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• pepper
• sour cream, bacon bits and feta cheese, for garnish

Instructions

1. In a large saucepan, add the sweet potatoes and cover with water. Bring water to a boil, add salt and cook until tender, 12-15 minutes. Drain and return to pot.
2. In a large pot, heat the olive oil, add the onion, carrot, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, thyme sprigs and bay leaf. Cook until the onions are softened, 6-7 minutes. 
3. Stir in the chicken broth, water, orange peel, orange juice and cinnamon.Simmer about 5 minutes. Discard thyme sprigs and bay leaf.
4. Add the broth mixture to the sweet potatoes in the pot and puree with an immersion blender (you could also use a full size blender) Stir in milk.
5. Serve the soup with a dollop of sour cream, sprinkle bacon and feta cheese on top. 

Sausage, Kale & Gnocchi Soup

Wow. This came out incredibly. Got rave reviews from the man of the house. Original recipe found here.

Ingredients

• 1 pound of ground hot italian sausage (definitely go for the hot sausage)
• 1 small white onion, diced
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 3 cups of kale, roughly chopped and stems removed
• 1 pound of gnocchi
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper, to taste
• freshly shaved Parmesan. 

Instructions

1. Add hot sausage and diced onion to a large stockpot.  Cook over medium-high heat until the sausage is browned.  Drain out any excess grease.
2. Add in the chicken stock and bring the mixture to a simmer (still over medium-high heat).  Once it reaches a simmer, reduce heat to medium-low and add the kale and gnocchi and stir to combine.  Continue cooking for 5 minutes. 
3. Stir in the heavy cream.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Serve warm with freshly shaved Parmesan

My Rating: ★★★★★

Another winner here. Simple. Easy. Delicious. It's hard to beat that. 

Smoky Roasted Chicken

Here's a quick and easy dry rub to add some zing to your roasted chicken.

Ingredients

• Chicken wings or drumsticks (bone in, skin on)
• 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 Tablespoon chili powder
• 1 Tablespoon paprika
• 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 Tablespoon sea salt
• 1/2 Tablespoon pepper
• 
  

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Toss chicken in melted coconut oil
3. Mix spices in a ziploc bag. Add chicken to bag and shake until coated.
4. Place on baking sheet and bake for 30-45 minutes, turning once after 20 minutes

My rating: ★★★★

This is an excellent rub. I usually like my roasted chicken with lemon and garlic, but this was a very good alternative.  I served this chicken with a Baked Sweet Potato with Feta and Honey.

Hot Italian Sandwiches

Another easy meal! Very tasty and satisfying. Adapted from this recipe here.

Ingredients

• 4 Hoagie Rolls
• 8-12 slices of salami
• 8-12 slices of pepperoni
• 8-12 slices of deli smoked ham
• 4-8 slices of mozzarella
• butter
• Italian seasoning
• 1 tomato, sliced

Instructions

1. Preheat broiler
2. Mix the softened butter and Italian seasoning and spread evenly on inside of hoagie rolls.
3. Broil for 2-3 minutes, to toast bread.
4. Remove rolls from oven, layer your meat and cheeses to your liking. Top with sliced tomato (You can also add grilled onions, grilled peppers or banana peppers)
5. Return to broiler for 2-3 minutes, until cheese is melted.

My rating: ★★★★★

Definitely a tasty and easy sandwich to throw together. The Zucchini Fries were more time consuming, but not by much. They went excellent together. 

Mushroom Zucchini Pasta

Mushroom Zucchini Pasta

This recipe was found from the lovely lady at damndelicious. It appealed to me for three reasons. One, I love mushrooms and zucchini. Two, I love pasta. Three, it was a super easy recipe. 

Photo credit: Damn Delicious

Ingredients

• 1 pound spaghetti
• 1 pound mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 2 zucchini, thinly sliced and quartered
• 2/3 cup peas
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 sprigs thyme
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Instructions

1. In a large pot over medium high heat, combine spaghetti, mushrooms, zucchini, peas, garlic, thyme and 4 1/2 cups water; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
2. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until pasta is cooked through and liquid has reduced, about 8-10 minutes. Stir in Parmesan and heavy cream.
3. Serve immediately.

My review: ★★

Now I will stress that I did not follow this recipe exactly and this is absolutely the cause of my bad review. I may very well try this again because it had a lot a potential. My two problems are easily fixable. The first is seasoning. I didn't season it enough. Blame it on being distracted by two kids, blame it on the wine that kept me company, blame it on cleaning my house at the same time, but I didn't put nearly enough salt or other seasonings in it. We had to add a lot to our individual plates. The other critique is the I didn't follow the last bit of instructions... Serve IMMEDIATELY. Don't let it sit warming on your stove because your dinner guests are 20 minutes late. Seriously. Serve it immediately. The pasta was WAAY overcooked and just tasted awful. So yes, I might try this again. And this time, I'd follow the directions to the tee.