Sweet potato soup with toasted pumpkin seeds

This sweet potato soup screams autumn. I found it on the website of Sweet Paul and I only made minor changes: I added the choice of using coconut oil instead of olive oil, I used Greek yoghurt instead of heavy cream, and I added the ginger. I haven't tasted it with thyme twigs yet but I'm sure it adds a wonderful flavour. Happy Autumn!

SWEET POTATO SOUP WITH TOASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS

INGREDIENTS

• 1 onion
• 1 garlic clove
• optional: fresh ginger (about the size of a dice)
• 4 large sweet potatoes
• 3 large carrots
• 1½-2 tablespoons olive oil or coconut oil (2 in original recipe)
• 2 organic vegetable stock cubes (or chicken)
• 1 litre (4 cups) water
• 190 ml (¾ cup) Greek yoghurt (heavy cream in original recipe)
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground chilli
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• garnish: toasted pumpkin seeds and thyme twigs and Greek yoghurt (or heavy cream)

METHOD

1. Peel and chop the onion, sweet potatoes, carrots, and ginger
2. In a large saucepan, sauté them briefly the oil
3. Add the vegetable stock cubes and water and bring to the boil, then lower the heat to low-medium
4. Cook for around 25 minutes or until the vegetables are tender
5. Using a hand blender, purée the soup. Then add Greek yoghurt (or cream) to thicken it
6. Stir the soup and bring to the boil
7. Season with chilli and pepper. Add salt if required
8. Toast pumpkin seeds in a pan until lightly toasted
9. Serve soup in bowls garnished with pumpkin seeds, fresh thyme and a drizzle of Greek yoghurt (heavy cream)

carrot muffins

Is it obvious that I like baking muffins? I have plenty of muffins recipes in my notebook and every time I think about what to post there is this voice inside that says no, you cannot post yet another muffins recipe. I find it a bit funny that in early 2009 I had never in my life baked muffins. I have no idea what was stopping me but after my first try there was no going back. My friend (Cafe)Sigrun was of course my inspiration; she was always talking about these amazing muffins she was making and one day I thought to myself that's it, now I'll give it a go and I went muffin pan shopping. I'm not pretending to invent the wheel with this recipe, I think the ingredients are pretty basic, but as you know I never use butter when baking and I don't drown my recipes in oil. Personally, I love using chopped pecans or walnuts in carrot muffins but my younger daughter is going through a phase where she doesn't want nuts in anything (too long phase, if you ask me!). As I like to make these for the children I leave the nuts out.

CARROT MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS

• 250 g spelt flour, a blend of wholegrain and fine (2 cups)
• 2½-3 teaspoons gluten free baking powder
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1-1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½-1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• optional: ⅛-¼ teaspoon cardamom
• optional: ⅛-¼ teaspoon clove
• 1 large egg, free-range/organic
• 100 g organic raw cane sugar (½ cup)
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup or agave
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil or other fine vegetable oil
• 75-90 ml (5-6 tablespoons) organic vanilla yoghurt (or plain yoghurt + ¼-½ teaspoon organic vanilla sugar)
• 175 g coarsely grated carrots (two carrots)

Update 4 October 2012: I was asked in an email how I make these with nuts. Usually, I use chopped walnuts and I use about 50 grams, which is about ½ cup. And when I use nuts I only use ½ tablespoon of oil because the fat from the nuts is enough. The muffins get too sticky in my opinion if I use 1 tablespoon.

METHOD

1. In a large bowl, combine the spelt flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Set aside
2. In a medium bowl, combine the egg, sugar, maple syrup and coconut oil (if the oil is solid, place the jar in a bowl of hot water before use). Then add the vanilla yoghurt and combine
3. Coarsely grate the carrots
4. Add the wet ingredients and the grated carrots (and walnuts if using) into the large bowl and mix gently. Make sure not to stir, the texture of the dough should be rather light
5. Lightly grease a silicon muffin pan with some coconut oil and fill each muffin cup about two-thirds to the rim (makes 12-14 muffins)
6. Bake at 180-190°C/350-375°F/gas mark 4-5 for 20-25 minutes (fan oven: 175°C/325°C/gas mark 3)
7. Remove the muffins from the oven and allow them to cool in the tins for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack