African Sweet Potato and Almond Soup:

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon oilve oil
• 1 Large onion ~ chopped
• 2 Cloves garlic ~ minced (I bumped this up to 5 cloves, but I like garlic!)
• 2 Teaspoons minced fresh ginger root (peel first)
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons ground coriander
• 1/2 Teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 Pinch ground cloves
• 3 Medium tomatoes ~ chopped (you can subsitute with 1 can of diced tomatoes - no sugar/salt added)
• 1 1/2 Pounds sweet potatoes (the white skinned kind, not the red skinned)~ peeled and chopped
• 1 Large carrot ~ peeled and chopped
• 4 1/2 Cups water (you can subsitute with vegetable or chicken broth)
• 1 Teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 Cups chopped, unsalted, dry - roast almonds (see note below on how to roast raw almonds)
• 1 Pinch cayenne pepper
• 2 Tablespoons creamy almond butter
• 1 Bunch chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

• Heat the oil in a large sauce pan over medium-high heat.  Saute the onion 10 minutes, just until lightly browned.  Mix in garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, and cloves.  Add tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots.  Continue to cook and stir about 5 minutes. 
• Pour water into the sauce pan and add the salt.  Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, simmer additional 30 minutes.
• Remove the soup mixture from the heat.  Use a food processor or blender and blend the soup and chopped almonds until almost smooth.  Add the cayenne pepper to the soup.  Return the soup to the sauce pan and use a whisk to mix in the almond butter.  Cook this mixture until heated through.
• Serve the soup warm topped with fresh cilantro.

The "pieces" of the soup cooking.

The finished product.  The soup has a great warm flavor that is sweet and spicy.  It was very good re-warmed the next day.  This is an 80/20 "Paleo" soup in my book.  ENJOY!