If you love sweet potatoes like I do, I think you will enjoy this easy to make soup recipe. What I really like about this soup is the hint of orange flavoring mixed with the sweet taste of the potatoes.

If you wanted to save time, you could use canned yams, but I feel it doesn't taste as delicious...as if you used the fresh ones. This recipe will make 4 servings.

Orange Spice Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 lbs. sweet potatoes (yams), diced

1 large carrot, chopped small

1 onion, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

2 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1 1/2 cups unsweetened orange juice (not concentrate)

1 cup plain yogurt

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

salt and black pepper to taste

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Peel and dice your sweet potatoes into 1 to 2" chunks. Heat the vegetable oil up in a large saucepan or stock pot. Stir in the diced yams, chopped carrots, onions and chopped garlic, cook over medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent sticking.

Pour in the vegetable broth and orange juice, cover and bring to a full boil. Reduce the heat to low, and cook the soup for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking and scorching. Remove lid and check to see if the yams and carrots are fork tender. If so, pour the mixture into your blender and process for 1 1/2 minutes until its pureed and smooth. Return the soup back to the saucepan.

Stir in the plain yogurt, cilantro and season to taste with the salt, black pepper and cinnamon. Let soup stand for 1 minute before serving. 

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales since 1989 and is a manager with Tupperware. Shelly enjoys cooking and baking for her friends and family and trying out new recipes. You can visit Shelly online at http://www.workathomebusinessoptions.com or her recipe blog at http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com for additional free recipes.

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People have made request for the recipe to this stew, but to be truthful I have been making it the old fashion way, by memory. I'm very sure it has not been made the exact same way twice. So, I'm going to have to wing this one, because I really can't remember everything, but it was always great, say my guest. This will be a loose interpretation of the original. You don't have to put all of the ingredients in to make it a success. I used to serve this stew at my fall harvest party, and now I'm feeling the harvest thing again for the first time in years, especially after going apple picking with my sister and her family at Royal Oak Farm, a Christian family fruit orchard with several generations living on the farm. The orchard comes complete with the hay rides n all....It's FUN check em out!!!

Okiedayzee! You must find a Large pumpkin that will sit up right and level in your oven, a big ole stew pot at least 8 quarts, a shallow roasting pan, and an oven large enough to roast your pumpkin with the stew inside. Make sure you don't choose a pumpkin too large for your oven or it'll be a mess on your hands.

Be careful, to wear safety gloves if possible while working with your pumpkin. Use a serrated knife or a fine saw so you won't have to struggle with the pumpkin so much. Cut the pumpkin open from the top to make a lid, and remove the seeds. They can be roasted for another day. Carve out large chucks of the pumpkin meat and set it aside, but don't carve the walls too thin, because you need to finish the stew inside the pumpkin shell. Rub the interior of the shell with a paste of allspice, cumin, ginger powder, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon.

Braise large chunks of stew beef (or Turkey) in olive oil and garlic (depends how much you like beef as to how much you want to add to the stew), add carrots, celery, 1/2 teaspoon dried chili powder, star anise, bay leaves, 1 large diced onion, 3 US $1 coin size rounds of ginger, two large sweet potatoes peeled and cubed, 8 cups of beef stock, 1 can stewed tomatoes, a 1 cup white wine, and enough water to cover ingredients.

Bring to a boil then reduce to low simmer. Don't boil the stew too much or your meat will be tough. Sweet potatoes will cook down to add flavor, depth and color to the stew. Add white peeled cut potatoes and pumpkin meat after stew has simmered for an hour and cook for 15 minutes more. Salt to taste, but it probably needs about a teaspoon. The stew is supposed to be sweetish and savory.

Now here's the optional part, but you gotta do it anyway. Set your pumpkin shell in a shallow roasting pan on the bottom rack of the oven and ladle out enough stew to fill 80% of capacity. Don't over fill the pumpkin or you'll have a mess on your hands as it expands. Cook with pumpkin lid on for 20 more minutes at 350 f. The pumpkin needs to be firm enough to hold the stew, so don't over roast you center piece and serving dish. The smell will be divine :) Serve in large bowls with garlic bread, or whatever moves you.

Alternative: A day before braise meat, then add garlic and stock on very low simmer for your beef, pork or lamb for 1 1/2 hours prior to adding it to the other stock. This way your meat will be very tender.

Ok, should you make this, let me know how it goes. Ma mouth is watering just typing this out. If you get confused facebook me :)

Have a big blessed blast cooking! Otrie