Sweet Potato Cream Soup

One of the things I am learning to do is to make more of my main ingredient and use it in different ways.  For a busy person, who tries to maximize my opportunities to cook on the weekend, this gives me both variety and meals for the family for the coming week.  In this case, I made extra sweet potatoes and made this soup.

I adapted a recipe from Simply Recipes by taking out the leeks and the nutmeg.  I didn’t have leeks in the house so that was an easy elimination.  I added a little bit of spice, some ginger and some diced red peppers at the end to give some crunch and additional texture to the soup.  You don’t need to use the cream if you want to make more calorie friendly too.

Recipe
Sweet Potato Cream Soup:

INGREDIENTS
2 Tbsp (1/4 stick) butter
1 chopped onion
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 large garlic clove, chopped
1″ of ginger diced
1 1/2 pounds skinned sweet potatoes cubed
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cinnamon stick
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1/2 of a red pepper diced
The leafy tops of the celery stalks, chopped

Directions:
1 Melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and sauté for about 5 minutes. Add chopped celery and sauté for 5 more minutes. Add garlic, ginger and sauté 2 minutes.
2 Add sweet potatoes, vegetable stock and cinnamon stick, bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until potatoes are tender, about 40 minutes.
3 Remove cinnamon stick and discard. Working in batches, puree soup in blender until smooth. Return to pot.
4 Add heavy cream and maple syrup and stir over medium-low heat to heat through. Also add the diced red pepper.  Season soup to taste with salt and pepper.  Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle with celery leaves and top with a few of the diced red peppers.