Everyday Cooking Recipe + Vegan Sweet Potato Soup with Kale Pesto

Did you know the contents of your pantry and refrigerator can help boost your immune system? This vegan recipe has fiber, flavonoids, beta-carotene, and the anti-inflammatory compounds in ginger, turmeric, and cayenne, along with omega-3 in the walnuts, and vitamin C in the lemon juice. All this, plus kale, one of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet! I promise, though, with all the great flavors in the pesto, you will barely know it's kale. Store any extra pesto in the refrigerator, sealed, for up to 1 week.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ cup chopped celery
• ⅓ cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups vegetable broth, or more to taste
• ¾ teaspoon ground turmeric
• ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
• 1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 cup kale, stemmed and chopped
• ½ cup English walnuts, coarsely chopped
• ¼ cup nutritional yeast
• ½ lemon, juiced, or more to taste
• 1 clove garlic
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, or more to taste

Cooking Directions

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add celery and onion; cook and stir until the vegetables soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Mix in broth, turmeric, ginger, cayenne, cumin, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil.
2. Pour carefully into a high-speed blender, cover with a lid, and puree on high speed for 1 minute. Add mashed sweet potato and coconut milk; puree until soup has a creamy consistency, about 4 minutes. Add more broth or water if soup is too thick. Cover and keep warm.
3. Combine kale, walnuts, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper in a blender or food processor. Process or blend at high speed into a paste, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed, about 3 minutes. Pour in olive oil, one tablespoon at a time, blending after each addition. Add more oil or lemon juice if pesto seems too thick.
4. Ladle the warm soup into bowls and spoon some pesto on top of each serving.

Nutrition Facts

• calories385.6
• carbohydrateContent23.9 g
• fatContent31 g
• fiberContent6.1 g
• proteinContent7.3 g
• saturatedFatContent10 g
• sodiumContent247.4 mg
• sugarContent6.6 g