Hot Yam Soup

And here's another Mary McDougall recipe I never made before!

This one comes from 1992's Doctor McDougall's Health-Enhancing Recipe Book, another out-of-print book that, unfortunately, is not available in e-book form on the McDougall web site. At least it can be purchased new (at a ridiculous price) or used (as low as $4 plus shipping) from places like Amazon or Ebay.com,.

Last weekend we hit Whole Foods once again for various sweet potatoes and yams, so we'll be eating a lot of them over the next 2 weeks, even if only for lunches or snacks. This time I'm using one of the nice sized red-skinned Garnet yams for this soup.

Hot Yam Soup
servings: 8
prep time: 30 minutes
cooking time: 30 Minutes

2 onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup chopped green beans
2 cups chopped peeled yams, sweet potatoes, or winter squash
5 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups cooked garbanzo beans
1 large tomato, chopped, 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 bay leaf
3 teaspoons paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons basil
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (optional)

Place onions, garlic, celery, green beans, and yams in a large soup pot with 1/2 cup of water. Cook over medium heat, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook over simmering heat for 20 minutes.

Hint: If you don't have any green beans, use a cup of peas or chopped green pepper instead.

Once again, I'll be using a can of petite diced tomatoes instead of fresh, frozen onions, and dehydrated celery. I'm also using a quarter cup of dehydrated green beans that I bought from Harmony House and used only once since last year's purchase. I'll toss in an extra half cup or so of water, too. I bought them for a soup recipe by Jeff Novick that I made only once before. I know I gave that soup high praises in that post, but that was before its, um, laxative effect hit us! My husband was in no rush to have that soup again, but after all these soups we've been having lately, maybe I will try it one more time. I'll make sure we plan on being home the next day with no plans to leave the house, just in case.

I wish I had a sturdy device - and the arm muscles - to chop up that sweet potato! Now I remember why I started pre-cooking those potatoes, even if just for a few minutes, when I needed to cut them up for a recipe. I do have a jar of dehydrated sweet potatoes (also from Harmony House) but I'm saving those for emergency meals when stuck indoors and unable to go shopping, thanks to winter's blizzards.

Back to the soup.

It looked good, but tasted weird. I'm not sure if it was the paprika combined with basil and cinnamon spice mixture, or that flavor profile with the sweet potatoes, but I just wasn't a fan of this. My husband declared it "Okaaaaay, but something is 'off ' with it." He thought it was the sweet potatoes themselves, but I told him to put just a potato on his spoon and eat it. He did and said it's not the potatoes, they taste fine by themselves. Neither of us could put a finger on it. He did eat his usual 2 big bowls full, so I guess it wasn't that "off" but we both agreed I won't be making this one again. 

It's one of the rare Mary McDougall flops for this family. In fact, probably only the second. The first one was over 20 years ago, some kind of potato stew, I think - I can't even remember which recipe it was. I can't even remember what was wrong with it - too bland or too spicy. Oh well, since I can't even remember what it actually was, I'll most likely unknowingly wind up making it again at some point in the future.

But not this soup.

Give it a try and report back with your opinions. It's possible it's just us and our taste. In the book, Mary wrote about this: "Be adventuresome - I promise you'll enjoy this richly colored, richly flavored soup." It's obvious the McDougall family likes this soup, and yours may, too, just not mine.