Sweet Potato & Coconut Soup with Quinoa

I promise to make something without quinoa tomorrow! I just can't get enough of this Quinoa 365 book. So many fantastic looking recipes in there. I just about made a quinoa chickpea salad to go with this soup but figured that would be overkill. Here is the soup I made this evening:

Sweet Potato & Coconut Soup with Quinoa
2 large sweet potatoes (I used 1 large and I can't imagine how thick this would be with 2!)
2tbsp water
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup quinoa
3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup coconut milk
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
1/4tsp chili powder
1/4cup plain yogurt (optional) (I didn't have any)

Wash and peel the sweet potatoes and cut in 2-3" chunchs. Boil for 5-6 minutes until just soft but not mushy.

Place the water and onion in a large saucepan over medium heat and cook until the onion softens, about 7 minutes. Stir in the quinoa and vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 15 minutes, until the quinoa is cooked.

Add the sweet potato to the saucepan. Puree the mixture with a hand blender. Return to low heat and stir in the coconut milk. Reheat slowly on low, adding the cayenne and chili powder. Ladle into bowls and top each serving with a spoonful of yogurt (if using).

To go with this soup I made salad with a new salad dressing. I halved a recipe that came from Skinny Bitch in the Kitch. I mostly was excited to use the newest ingredient in my pantry which is agave nectar! My salad consisted of lettuce and cucumbers but the dressing made it special ....

2tbsp agave nectar
2tbsp dijon mustard
1/3cup olive oil
2tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove minced
salt & pepper


MY REVIEW: The soup was damn thick! A bowl will fill you right up. If you're not the largest fan of coconut, fear not. It's not an overwhelming flavor. I really liked the little bit of spice the cayenne added and just the overall simplicity of the recipe. There was no sauteing the onions in butter so this recipe is 100% lactose free as well (assuming you skip the yogurt).  I didn't even have to add any salt or pepper - the natural flavors were enough. Great salad dressing too - even with half the recipe there's quite a bit left over. I just mixed it up in a mason jar and will keep it in the fridge.

JASON'S REVIEW: It was fabulous. I couldn't guess the ingredients - the flavors stood on their own.

Chicken & Coconut Curry

I used a new ingredient this evening... Red Curry Paste. It's bizzare. It came in a little plastic container but the paste was sealed in a bag. I had to squeeze it out into the container and it's really thick but it smelled like a dream (if your dreams consist of spicy curry). Here's the recipe I used (click on it and it will be big enough to read):

MY REVIEW: This was very good... but be warned it is extremely spicy. I will be using my red curry paste in future recipes so stay tuned..

JASON'S REVIEW: It was hot hot hotttttt!