Sweet Potato Soup

I've been looking for new recipes, especially focusing on low-cost recipes. Since this doesn't have any meat it definitely fits the bill! I would serve it with a hearty bread on a cold day.

1 3/4 pounds sweet potatoes (about 2 medium potatoes)
1 small parsnip
1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Salt to taste
6 cups low-sodium broth (I used chicken, but vegetable would probably be better if I had some)
3 Tbsp apple juice concentrate
cinnamon, cloves, and salt to taste

Preheat oven to 375 F. Peel and cut potatoes into 1 inch cubes. Peel and cut parsnip into slightly smaller pieces (I found it took longer to bake than the sweet potato and hopefully this will help compensate). On a baking sheet, toss the sweet potatoes with the parsnip, garlic, olive oil, and salt. Bake for 45 minutes or until tender, stirring once.

I make my own chicken broth from bouillon (it's so expensive canned at the store!) so I boiled the water in a pot large enough for the final soup so I could reuse the pot. Often in soups I reduce the amount of bouillon so it isn't too strong, but since I used a reduced sodium broth 6 cups was just right.

In a blender, puree half of the vegetables with 2-3 cups of stock. (I poured my remaining broth into a large measuring cup to free up my pot.) Pour puree into the pot and puree the remaining vegetables with broth. Add the apple juice, cinnamon, cloves, and salt and heat through.

Changes I made to the original recipe: I don't have apple cider on hand, so I used apple juice, cinnamon, and cloves. I would decrease the garlic as it is very potent in such a large amount as she suggested (my husband suggested we better air out the house while it was baking!). I didn't have any green Tabasco sauce and wanted my soup my sweet than spicy. The parsnip gave this some spice and I didn't want it any more spicy than it already was.


I modified this recipe from Delish.com