Sweet Potato, Chicken, Curry Soup

My favorite time to cook is on the weekend because I have an excellent sous chef (Tim). This makes the cooking feel like less of a task and more of a fun social activity. Tim and I love to cook together, and Lenny is getting in on the fun too. Whenever I am cooking, I put Lenny in his jumper with me in the kitchen and he just jumps away. Typically, he goes crazy in his jumper - enjoying all the sounds and lights, but sometimes he gets very quiet, and when I turn to look he is totally focused on whatever it is I am doing. So, I like to think that Lenny will be very proficient in the kitchen. Here are my two helpers!

Today, I wasn't feeling very well (I think it was my allergies), so I felt like making a soup. Plus we had lots of sweet potatoes laying around because that is one of the foods Lenny loves to eat. This soup was awesome because it really helped clean out my sinuses - it wasn't exactly spicy, but the curry powder did make my nose run. I think this soup would be great if you had a cold, so I wanted to document it for when that happens... just make sure you eat it with some tissues nearby.  Here are the vegetables cooking in all the lovely spices! Because it was the weekend, we ate this soup with crusty French bread and brie cheese. I also found a bottle of Pinot Noir (Ghost Pines) on sale, and it all went so perfectly together! It was so delicious! Here is the recipe for Sweet Potato, Chicken, Curry Soup:

                                                    Ingredients:

Olive oil

Onion

Carrots - 8

Celery - 5 stalks

Garlic - 4 cloves, chopped

Parsley - 1/2 cup chopped

Sweet potatoes - 2

Curry Powder - 2 Tablespoons

Tumeric - 1 Tablespoon

Salt

Pepper

Chicken/Vegetable stock - 8 cups

Cooked Chicken breasts, shredded - 1 lb.

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a soup pot. Add chopped onion, carrots, and celery. Once they begin to soften, add the garlic and parsley. Let that cook for a few minutes. Add the chopped sweet potatoes and the spices. Let that cook for a few minutes. Add the stock (I just used whatever I had on hand, so a mix of chicken and vegetable stock). Let that simmer until the sweet potatoes are soft (about 40 minutes). Add the cooked chicken. Let simmer an additional 10 minutes.