My Sweet Potato, Leek & Apple Soup

I haven't posted in a while, and I'm sorry. I have had a few challenging weeks and today was the straw that broke the camel's back. On my way home from my group counseling class I stopped at the store and bought a bunch of vegetables, despite my trip at the end of the week. After I bought all these great looking vegetables I realized that I had to use them in the next four days. I knew I was going to make a soup when I got home because I needed to cook something to just relax and be with myself for a little while. 

I just started to cut vegetables and throwing them in the pot. This turned into a great cozy soup, so I will describe this as cozy as cashmere on the first cold fall day. I refer to fall and not winter because I added an apple and cinnamon to the soup, and boy am I glad I did! I also just love fall and take every opportunity I can to talk about it! Sorry in advance for not having exact measurements for the spices. I wasn't planning on posting this so I wasn't measuring. Here is the rough recipe to this great soup:

Ingredients:

1 diced shallot
2 diced carrots
1 stalk of celery, diced
2 small baby leeks, diced
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced 
1 apple (I used Jazz) peeled and diced
1 cup of low sodium chicken sock (I used homemade, but you can use any kind of stock)
two shakes of thyme
a pinch of rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste
a touch of cinnamon

In a hot pot heat up some olive oil, and saute all the vegetables, except sweet potato and apple. Let them vegetables sweat a little and then add lees and sweet potato and apple. Allow the apple to brown a little and then add the liquid. If the one cup of stock does not cover everything, add warm water till vegetables are covered. Add spices and mix all together. Cover and simmer vegetables for about 15 minutes or until sweet potato is tender. Then use an immersion blender to puree all vegetables. (If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a food processor or blender.) TASTE SOUP! This is important! You want to taste for saltiness, flavor etc. If it doesn't have flavor.. add some more of whichever spice you like best and let it simmer another minute. If soup seems too thick you can water it down with some warm water and cook it another minute or two. Serve with warm crusty bread on a cold day or when you just need some good healthy comfort food!

And what was Charlie doing during all this? He was walking around the apartment randomly barking once, as if he were complaining about this and that. Basically he was like, "WOMAN! it's 10pm and you're making soup. GET A GRIP and let's go to bed!" But hey! I'll have a great lunch tomorrow!

enjoy & remember to make it all with love.