Comforting Sweet Potato Soup

It's that time of year again--the weather has taken a sudden turn and its just plain cold outside.  Now, for all of you non-Canadians, this past weekend was our Thanksgiving.  Don't ask me why we celebrate on a different weekend from Americans, I don't actually know the answer.  Because we like to be different difficult?

Anywhoo, we hosted Thanksgiving at our house for 16 15 people and agreed to provide the turkey, real stuffing, sweet potato casserole (a la Paleo Comfort Foods cookbook) and a (paleo) dessert.  (We do potluck, so the rest of the food came from other family members).  Despite our paleo stance, we do provide non-paleo foods for our non-paleo family members on the holidays, and just don't eat it ourselves (oh, who am I kidding, while I didn't eat it, my husband and both kids shovelled it in with abject glee).   So that was Sunday night.  We ate like horses until very late into the evening, we drank a lot of wine (7 bottles, 9 adults....hmmm) and by the time Monday rolled around, I was just......exhausted.  Maybe it was all the cooking and cleaning from Thanksgiving, but more likely it was the hike I did on Saturday--15 km, took over 3 hours, over extremely rugged terrain, and the migraine that followed all day Sunday and rolled into Monday (not that it kept me from my precious wine--stupid move on my part).

When I woke up Monday morning the house was FREEZING; I hadn't gotten around to turning the heat on yet in my house.  I'm just feeling el-cheapo lately--because I'm broke, mostly...  but also because there's a voice in my head that's saying, "You're Canadian, damn it, you can take this cold!  This is nothing!  Don't be such a wuss!  Just wait until January!"  And the other voice in my head just starts to cry at the thought of January.

So I spent a very cold day in my house, tired, headachy, and just hibernating and recovering.  In socks, slippers, two tops and still snuggled under blankets (and obviously pants--I'm not a weirdo), I spent the better part of the day catching up on things I'd recorded on the PVR.  But I did rouse myself long enough to make lunch, at least.  I knew I had leftover turkey and gravy--but what to cook with it?  I wanted a warm bowl of comfort.  We'd eaten all of the sweet potato casserole the night before.  There's never enough of that leftover (thank you Paleo Comfort Foods cookbook, you're fabulous)

So, with sweet potato casserole on the brain, this is what I cooked up....  And I must say, topped with pumpkin pie spices and chopped pecans, it was total comfort, dessert in a soup bowl, and happiness all wrapped up together.  Aren't sweet potatoes just delicious?

So here it is.

Serves 3

Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet potato (about a lb)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp gresh ginger
• 1/2 cup heavy cream or fat from top of coconut milk can

Method:

Peel and cube sweet potatoes.  Add potatoes and broth to a pot and bring to a boil.  Simmer until the sweet potatoes are falling apart tender.  Puree sweet potatoes, adding the broth in, until smooth.  Return to the pot and add all other ingredients.  Heat through until hot, but not boiling.

Serve with chopped pecans and extra cinnamon/pumpkin pie spice