Chipolte Sweet Potato Soup

Winter is lingering. And not just lingering, it has stomped its foot and folded its arms and is not moving on. *sigh* For a Louisiana lady, that's just not tolerable. So, in order to fight back, I make soup. And not just any soup, but a TexMex kicked-up root vegetable soup with a side of beer bread.



Inspired by Homesick Texan's recipe for Chipolte Sweet Potato Soup, I created my own. (Mostly for the fact I forgot to printout the recipe and because this lil woman wasn't going back out in the cold for celery. So not happening.) Be sure to peruse through Homesick Texan's blog. It is seriously fabulous especially for southerners. Check out the biscuits, rice and beans, stacked enchiladas, and Texas sheet cake and tell me you don't want to be neighbors with that woman.

For something hardy along with your soup, whip up a loaf of Beer Bread. I'm telling you, you probably have everything you need for homemade bread in your pantry and frig. Plus you don't have to wait for it to rise. Bonus!

My Chipolte Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients:
one large sweet potato - peeled and diced
half an onion - diced
2 carrots - peeled and diced
1 tbsp butter or extra virgin olive oil
one can of vegetable stock
one chipolte pepper - diced (if you're daring, go right ahead and add some of the adobo sauce from the canned chipolte peppers)
1/2 - 3/4 can of beer - your choice
squeeze of lime juice
pinch of sugar
salt
fresh ground pepper

Recipe:
Melt your butter and saute the onions and carrots. Add a pinch of salt. Once onions start to become translucent, add your sweet potato and can of veggie stock. Simmer until potatoes begin to get a lil soft. Add your chipotle pepper and beer (or more veg stock if you like. I only had one can in the pantry, so I went with the beer instead of water. Why water your soup down when you can add more favor with something else?) Simmer just a lil longer. Remove from stove. Place your emulsion blender down into the soup and puree until smooth. You can also add the soup to a regular blender if you don't own a hand-held one. Squeeze a wedge of lime into the soup. Add a lil more salt to taste, a pinch of sugar, and couple turns of your pepper grinder.

Stir and serve and ignore winter going on outside.