sweet potato and mushroom soup

I'm moving everything from the cooking closet [my other blog that has been inactive for over a year] over here to MN365. I'm decluttering. Hope it's not too annoying! (-:

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Let's talk about boys men. Why? Because I'm thinking about them.... 

I am unlucky in love**. Lucky in lots of other areas of my life. But, romantic love? Not my forte. It doesn't help that I am perhaps the pickiest person in the entire universe. My pickiness diminishes as I get older though. 

I'm thirty-one, you know. 

When I think about men, I'd never choose a vegetarian. I know, it's weird. I don't eat meat, but he should? Very logical, Mind, very logical.

In my very logical mind, I equate some kind of masculinity**** with eating meat. This makes no sense. Did I ever tell you about the time I was in college and my lifting partners were almost always men because I was that beefy? This is probably around when masculinity/femininity got all skewed in my mind.
Things I think are masculine [in a non-exclusive list that doesn't actually mean anything]:
-athleticism
-confidence
-beards
-height. 

I don't seem that picky, right? 

Someone should want to marry me, I'm pretty rad. I'll eat meat for him....someday...maybe? Of course, he probably shouldn't care about it but I also don't want to be that picky person either. 

So, I cook vegetarian food knowing fully well, that I will probably not be a vegetarian*** for life. When I'm ready to eat meat again, I will. 

Obviously I'm really committed to a vegetarian lifestyle. 

This soup has an onion, a pack of mushrooms, two sweet potatoes, some garlic, red pepper flakes, vegetable broth and fresh dill. It doesn't matter how things look when you chop them up because you're going to puree it. If you love spicy the way I love spicy add some red pepper flakes while you're sautéing those veggies. 

Do your thang, saute the onion, garlic, sweet potatoes and 'shrooms in olive oil, add the broth, and boil until the potatoes are soft. It takes about 20 minutes or so, just grab a fork and poke a potato to see if it's soft or crunchy. 

Do you have an immersion blender? I love mine. If you don't have one, just use your potato masher or put it in your blender in batches [pro tip: small batches and a towel over the top of the blender, hot soup in a blender=explosive]. Add the dill before or after your puree it, it doesn't really matter. Taste it to check your seasoning, you'll probably need some salt. 

Your soup will go from that [on the left] to that [on the right] in about 2 minutes. I like some chunk left in it, so it's about 70% pureed. 

Dish it up! If you're going to go all out, add some goat cheese [heaven!!!] and croutons. Or you could add sour cream and crunchy onions. Or you could use something else that's creamy and something that's crunchy.

This soup is way better than my non-existent love life.

Sweet Potato and Mushroom Soup
-1 Onion
-2-3 Cloves of Garlic
-2 Sweet Potatoes
-1 large package Mushrooms
-Dill
-Red Pepper Flakes
-Vegetable Broth
-Salt and Pepper
-Goat Cheese
-Croutons

Mostly this is a shopping list because you should add in the quantities of things that you like. You don't like red pepper flakes? Don't use them. You like a little mushroom, but not a lot? Use less. It's soup, it should be easy. (-:

**When I say "unlucky in love" I know that I have yet to meet someone who really catches my eye and vice versa. I hope that I will someday, but I don't believe that luck or lack of luck will be the determining factor.

***Technically, I'm a pescatarian.

****I'd take Cory Booker any day of the week. Hottest vegetarian-politician ever? Yes.