Settling into the Happy New Year

Jan 2009. A new year stretches before us with promise and possibility. We had a quiet celebration with fireworks in our back yard and then a bit of gaming. I hope your Evening was spent doing something you loved.

I have lots of things to post and several pictures ready to go, but let me start off with a recipe that we enjoyed this evening. I've been organizing the thousands of recipes I've collected over the years. I found this from www.womansday.com/specials Slow cooking, year unknown... This is not for the faint of tastebuds, this is some kick *&^ soup.

Santa Fe Sweet Potato Soup

2 dried New Mexico chili peppers

2 cups boiling water

1 Tbsp oil

2 onions, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 finely chopped jalapeno pepper

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dried oregano leaves

4 cups peeled sweet potatoes cut into 1/2-in cubes

6 cups vegetable or chicken broth

2 cups corn kernels, thawed if frozen

1 tsp grated lime zest

2 Tbsp lime juice

2 roasted red peppers, cut into thin strips

Finely chopped cilantro

1. In a medium bowl, soak chili peppers in boiling water for 30 minutes. Drain, discarding soaking liquid and stems. Pat dry, chop finely and set aside.

2. In a medium skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring, until softened. Add garlic, jalapeno pepper, salt, oregano and chili peppers and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Transfer mixture to slow cooker. Add sweet potatoes and broth and stir to combine.

3. Cover and cook on High 4-6 hours or Low 8-10 hours, until sweet potatoes are tender. Strain vegetables, reserving broth. In a blender or food processor, puree vegetables with 1 cip reserved broth until smooth. Return mixture, along with reserved broth, to slow cooker. Or, using a hand held blender, puree the soup in slow cooker. Add corn, lime zest and juice. Cover and cook on High for 20 minutes until corn is tender.

Okay, that was the real recipe. I substituted 2 Tbsp chipolte peppers in adobo sauce for the New Mexico peppers (I didn't have any) AND 1 can roasted chopped green chilis for the jalapeno (didn't have that either). I used 1 large onion and didn't add any salt as I was using a carton of broth. I chopped the roasted red pepper finely and added it with the corn, juice and zest of a whole lime and then forgot the cilantro. We put dollops of yogurt on the soup to cut the heat a bit. Enjoy!