Sweet Potato Soup: Perfect for a rainy day

It's fall! Yay! The air is crisp and cool and it's the start of super comforting foods! Plus, I don't know about where you are, but here it is raining...and raining and frankly a perfect soup day.

I had lots of help with this soup, I had the pleasure to watch our friends four kids. I don't know about you but when I have a house of kids I put them to work! Okay, not really, they were excited to help. The older two even helped me paint the deck earlier this summer.

Anyway, I had five kids and was planning on making a soup so when I asked if anyone would be interested in helping all of them said yes. I separated the tasks, most of which involved chopping and put them to work. (And don't worry, I watched them all carefully.)

Coming up with soups can be fun, I had a ginormous sweet potato so it was an easy decision to make that the primary ingredient. Everything else just can through tasting.

Sweet Potato Soup

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed

3 medium russet potatoes, cubed

3 medium carrots (about 1-1/2 cups), chopped

1 medium onion, diced

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 large garlic clove (or 3 normal size), peeled and minced

2 tbsp. fresh thyme

2 tbsp. curry powder
1 tbsp. turmeric powder

1 tsp. cumin powder

1 jalapeño, minced

8 cups water

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: sour cream and sriracha 

Melt butter in a large stock pot, add chopped carrots, onion and celery, sprinkle a little salt over the veggies and sauté for about five minutes, cover until veggies are soft. Add garlic, thyme and jalapeño. Stir.

Add water and potatoes. Bring to a simmer and add the remaining spices. Continue to simmer until potatoes are fork tender. Using a blender or using an emulsion blender, blend half the soup. (Blending adds a creamy texture to the soup.) Stir soup and adjust seasoning to your taste. Pour into a bowl and garnish with sour cream and sriracha.

Hopefully you enjoy this as much as I did, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Thai {inspired} Coconut Soup

A few months back we had a girls night that started with dinner at Veit Thai, then of course followed by drinks. Ever since, I keep thinking of Thai and the spicy, sweet combinations.  Then at one of our local time bank* meetings, my friend fed me shared with me more of those wonderful spiciness. So here I am trying to come up with a dish that can satisfy the craving.

And if you are reading this Grace, we need to go back! 

So here is my take on a Thai inspired Coconut Soup, with sweet potatoes and mushrooms.

1 sweet potato
1 small eggplant
8-10 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 qt Vegetable Broth
1 can Coconut Milk
2 jalapenos, minced
1 stalk of lemongrass, sliced thin
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 green onion, sliced
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 cup cilantro, chopped
Sriracha to taste

Chop the sweet potato, eggplant and slice mushrooms, add to stock pot. Cook just to soften in about 1 tbsp each coconut oil and olive oil. Once soft, add the broth and milk. Bring to a simmer.

Add all remaining ingredients, up to the cilantro. Let simmer. Add the cilantro and add sriracha to taste. 

Eat it alone, or serve over rice or rice noodles.

*I am part of our local time bank, York County Time Bank. We currently have close to 70 active members and growing. We are a new bank, but if you are local and interested you should check it out! Or if you are interested in finding out more information or to see if there is a time bank in your community you can check it out here at hOurworld or at TimeBanks USA.

{Recipe shared on Easy Green Mama, Gluten Free Linky for August 27, 2013}

Potato Gnocchi {First Attempt}

Our front yard

We had a snow day, I stayed home with my son and we built a fort, had a snowball fight with some friends and just had a relaxing day.

Snowball!

However, I had the bug to bake.  I was thinking along the line of cookies or muffins or just something that could curb my sweet tooth. So, I starting looking around the kitchen to see what we had on hand, what I could work with.

Then I noticed a bag of potatoes in desperate need of being used, so the first thing that came to mind was gnocchi. I have been wanting to try a gluten-free version, so what the heck right?  Well, this was my first attempt.  The flavor was good, but I would like to make them slightly firmer. So I will eventually be making another batch, and playing around with it a bit.  But in the mean time, here is my rendition of Gluten-Free Potato Gnocchi.

Gluten-Free Potato Gnocchi

2 pounds russet potatoes (you want a starchy potato)
1 1/2 cups rice flour blend (I used Trader Joes All-purpose GF Blend)
1 tsp xanthan gum
2 eggs
1/2-1 cup potato starch
salt and pepper

Roast potatoes in a 400 degree oven for about an hour or until fork tender.  Peel and rice the cooked potato.  

In a large bowl add the flour and gum to the potatoes knead gently until it starts to come together, season with salt and pepper.  Whisk together the eggs and add to the potato mixture. Continue to mix until it forms a dough, it will be slightly sticky. 

In a large work surface, sprinkle the starch and dump the potato mixture on the surface.  Sprinkle with some additional starch.  Knead the dough slightly and quarter it.  Using one quarter, roll it out to about 3/4 inch thick.  Slice into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces, you can roll on a fork to make ridges.  Place on a floured sheet pan until ready to use.  Use immediately or freeze.

To cook: Place the fresh (or frozen) gnocchi in a pot of boiling salted water, they are ready once they start to float. 

I served mine with sauteed onions and brown butter with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese...they were really yummy.

Keep your eyes open for my next attempt at this...

If you have any tricks for a firmer GF gnocchi I would love to hear them!  Thanks and Enjoy!