Spiced sweet potato soup

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There's nothing like soup for using up leftovers. In fact, now that I think about it, I made this soup entirely out of Thanksgiving leftovers. Hooray for frugality.

(Don't worry, you don't need to cook Thanksgiving dinner just to make this soup. There's another way.)

I don't like my sweet potatoes sweet, so I roast them with garlic, chili powder and lime (here's the recipe). You can just add those flavors to your soup if you don't want to take the trouble to roast the sweet potatoes first. Also note that there's no peeling involved. Sweet potato skins are tasty and healthy - lots of fiber! And once you blend up the soup, you won't even notice them.

Spiced sweet potato soup - leftovers method

• Leftover roasted spiced sweet potatoes
• Chicken or turkey stock, enough to cover the potatoes

Bring sweet potatoes and stock to a boil in a pot. Turn down the heat and simmer about 10 minutes (remember, the sweet potatoes are already cooked). Puree in the pot with an immersion blender, or in a countertop blender in batches. Taste and add salt if necessary. Serve hot.

Spiced sweet potato soup - from scratch method

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3-4 sweet potatoes, unpeeled, cut into chunks
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 6 cups chicken stock
• juice of 2 limes
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute about 6 minutes, until the onion is starting to brown and caramelize in spots. Add the garlic and cook another minute. Now add the sweet potatoes and chili powder and continue to saute about 5 minutes. Turn up the heat a little if you need to - you want the sweet potatoes to start to caramelize around the edges to simulate that roasted flavor you get from a hot oven.

Add the chicken stock and lime juice and bring the mixture to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer about 30 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are very soft. Puree until smooth in the pot with an immersion blender, or puree in batches in a countertop blender. Taste and correct the seasonings with salt and pepper (if your chili powder or stock is salty, you may not need much). Serve hot.