Pretty Little Apron

sweet potatoes

Homestyle Sweet Potato and Chicken Soup

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Sweet Potatoes. Nutritious. Delicious. Cheap. Versatile. AMAZING!


But seriously… this soup. The perfect balance of sweet and savory in a big, warm mug waiting for you on the table with a pretty fall decoration in the middle and a pumpkin spice latte on the side! In my house you can go ahead and just throw that pretty fall decoration on the floor and rip it apart because if you haven’t noticed I have 3 boys. They do that. A lot. Well, basically I should just take my pretty decorations and throw them in the trash myself because that’s where they’ll end up. That will save me the hassle of having to clean anything up, right? Boys!

One thing I LOVE about this soup is the color that comes out of the carrots and sweet potatoes to make it the perfect fall orange. Of course, being the only woman in my house nobody else cares about the beautiful color of my soup, so I have to make pictures like the following to bask in my orange glory while others cheer. Is this happening? Please… anyone… someone out there in internet-land, do you care that my soup is orange? Please say yes! 🙂 Please give me a big *nice soup* while we both glance at that pretty bowl!

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Thanks, you just made my day! Now I can get over the fact that I will not be displaying any pretty fall decorations on my table until the baby is 18. That’s 17 years of decoration-less fall’s I have yet to endure. But hey, at least I have my orange soup!

And can we talk nutrition for a second because this soup ain’t no rice cake (thanks Blake Shelton for that one). Sweet potatoes = one of the most nutritious foods in the world. That’s right, it tops many other foods labeled “super foods” so I think that makes it even more acceptable to eat numerous bowls in one sitting while burning my mouth because I’m too impatient to wait for it to cool down. Totally acceptable! Until I’m old and have no taste buds left. Then I’ll have to go to restaurants and asks the cooks to heat my soup up over and over and over again until it is boiling in the microwave and my old ass is finally happy. Sound like a real life scenario? That’s because it is! I know, I know, the old people always get a bad rap but seriously I can’t even tell you how many times a day this happened while I was cooking in restaurants. So remember folks, wait until your food cools down or you’ll be THAT old person some day!

*No old people’s feelings were hurt in the making of this post. 🙂

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And one more thing.. I found these crackers today. TWO ingredients! 100% whole wheat and salt. Ummm helllllooo healthy cracker I’ve been looking for forever. Thank you for coming into my life today so I could dip you in my soup and take pictures of it. Things always work themselves out perfectly, don’t they?

*I used my Homemade Chicken Stock in this recipe.

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Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup

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chickensoup8 We invited some of our friends from church over so I decided to make a nice big pot of chicken noodle soup. I love this soup and make it often. I always think I will make extra and we will have a lot leftover to eat throughout the week but somehow it always disappears quickly! One thing I do not use in a soup like this is boxed chicken stock or bullion cubes. Although these products can make a soup taste good, they all contain MSG or some form of it (yeast extract, autolyzed yeast). I have not found a boxed product that does not contain these ingredients. Even stocks that are labeled as containing “No MSG” still contain the yeast extract and autolyzed yeast. I would stay away from these products especially because these companies are being deceitful about what is in their products, which is not the type of company I want to support. Not only is MSG linked to obesity, depression, eye damage, and fatigue, it also over-excites your brain cells and tells you that you want more.

This recipe does take some time to make, but 95% of that time is spent just simmering to create a tasty broth. I can put this on the stove and do a number of things before I go back to the soup for the next step. It is a great soup to make on a weekend when you cleaning the house or playing with the kiddos. I also use half regular potatoes, half sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes give the broth a hint of sweetness that sets this soup apart from any other chicken noodle soup you have had!


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