Spicy Tuesday – Sweet Potato Almond Soup – Cayenne Pepper

Here’s a fun and easy way to make a soup thats packed with flavor and celebrates the flavors of the season. We love using almond butter and roasted almonds in this soup, but you could also use peanut butter and chopped roasted peanuts to switch it up. If you have a vegetarian or vegan (just use a plant based yogurt for the topping), coming for the holidays, here’s a yummy way to satisfy them and everyone else at the table.

We use a pinch of cayenne to “point up” the other flavors in the individual gratins. A little spice “lifts” the other flavors in the gratins. Cayenne has many health benefits. They include helping with digestion, providing detox support, relieving joint and nerve pain, supporting weight loss by boosting ones metabolism.

Sweet Potato Almond Soup

Fall Ingredients: Sweet Potatoes, Apples

• Four Small Roasted Sweet Potatoes
• 1 Cup Veggie Broth
• 1 ½ Cups Apple Cider or Juice
• ½ Cup Natural, Creamy Almond Butter
• 1 TB Grated Fresh Ginger
• 1 Clove Garlic, Grated
• 1 TB Fresh Lime Juice
• 2 TB Fresh Orange Juice
• 1/8 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
• Sea Salt and Freshly Cracked Black Pepper To Taste
• Zest of 1 Lime
• ½ Cup Nonfat Greek Yogurt
• ¼ Cup Finely Chopped, Roasted Salted Almonds*

Step One

Scrape out the flesh of the sweet potatoes. In a medium stockpot, combine the sweet potato, veg broth, and apple juice. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Step Two

Return to the pot. Add the ginger, garlic, juices and cayenne pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes over medium heat. Taste for salt and pepper. (If you’d like the soup to be perfectly smooth, use an immersion blender to purée the soup after it has cooled a bit.)

Step Three

Mix the lime zest with the Greek yogurt. Garnish each bowl with a TB of the yogurt mixture, and sprinkle with the almonds.

* Of course, you can purchase almonds for this recipe – but to roast the almonds, place on a sheet pan and slide into a 400F oven for about 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and spray or drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.