Beet Sweet Potato Soup
This Beet Sweet Potato Soup is so creamy and it will boost your energy and keep you healthy!
Last week I went to my favorite event of the year: The Longevity Conference. It was soooooo amazing! My head is still spinning from all of the awesome new things I learned and of course I came home with big bags filled with new superfoods, herbs, and ingredients to test out for you. I’m bursting at the seams with new info for you… yay!
Each year I feel so lucky to be able to meet so many awesome people at Longevity, and this year was no exception. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was being able to meet Solla Eiriksdottir, a vegetarian chef who I just love. She is so much fun, so creative, and so practical in the kitchen. Beet Sweet Potato Soup is a recipe in her Raw cookbook, so I just had to make a big pot.
First, I have to tell you that beets are one of my favorite ingredients. When I was younger, I used to hate them — I thought they tasted like dirt. Years later, when I became immersed in Chinese medicine and I learned the value of beets, I began playing around with them to make them taste good to me. It’s funny, because my daughter used to say that beets tasted like grass (I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…) and now, she’s a lover too.
And sweet potatoes… well, who doesn’t like these gems? And do you know about the 5 Health Benefits Of Yams And Sweet Potatoes?
I love to customize recipes for specific health concerns. So, when my clients ask me to put on my health coach and chef’s hats, I often customize recipes for their specific needs. Let me customize a soup recipe for you that will work for whatever’s going on in your body now… I’m such a geek that I really do get excited about doing this. So CLICK HERE to be taken directly into my calendar to sign up for your free phone consultation… I’d love to create a soup recipe that addresses your specific needs!
Download your free copy of my Optimized Athletic Performance Food Plan ebook now!
Okay, so what’s so great about beets? What am I rambling on about? Well, in Chinese medicine, we know that many illnesses and conditions in the body are caused because the body is not making good quality blood. Beets help the body make high quality blood. Beets are great for energy. They increase athletic performance. They are good for your heart. They help ward of cancer. Need I say more? And, as an added benefit, they just make everything look beautiful — I mean, just look at the color of this beet sweet potato soup!
Now I use beets whenever I can. For this soup, there’s no beet preparation involved except peeling them and cutting them into chunks. Easy peasy. Sometimes I roast them. Sometimes I ferment them. Sometimes I slice them really thin. And, don’t even get me started on beet powder…
Here’s a really simple recipe for the most awesome roasted beets ever: Pomegranate Glazed Beets
Here are the healing powers of some of the ingredients in this beet sweet potato soup recipe:
Beets are SO good for you. I try to find ways to fit them into my meals as much as possible. Really… many times a week. Beets nourish blood and tonify the heart. Athletes are starting to drink beet juice as a form of endurance therapy. They are anti-carcinogenic, good for anemia, and relieve constipation. I also think it’s a great idea to eat them raw sometimes because their amazing goodness is even more pumped up this way.
Sweet potatoes are good for your digestive system. They can be good for both constipation and diarrhea. These orange gems also help rid your body of excess water, are good for breast health, help people with diabetes and actually can help ease night blindness. In olden times, it was common in China to rub mashed sweet potatoes on poison insect bites to remove the toxins. I haven’t tried this, but if you see me looking a tad orange, this will be why…
Onions are great for your immune system; they are a natural antihistamine. Recently, I recommended that a patient with bronchitis put sliced raw onions in her socks when she went to sleep… she woke up so much better; they actually can rid the body of bacteria. (I know I’ve told you this before, but it really is awesome!) Onion is a superhero in the food world!
Turmeric is actually a Chinese herb (Jiang Huang). It is great for reducing inflammation throughout the body. If you suffer from aches and pains in your joints, try turmeric. It can help relieve menstrual pain and some other abdominal pains but, if you are pregnant, ask your doctor before you eat too much turmeric.
When you add olive oil to foods, it actually helps deliver the nutritional benefits of your food to your body in a better way. All of the benefits of the food’s color pigments get transported where they need to go. I drizzle a good quality extra-virgin olive oil on top of everything.
Beet Sweet Potato Soup | | Print |
- 2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling on the individual bowls of soup
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
- 6 small beets, peeled and cut into chunks
- sea salt and black pepper, to taste
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 Tbs cumin
- ¼ tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
- 5 cups vegetable broth
- ½ cup unsweetened, plain non-dairy yogurt (I used cashew yogurt)
- ¼ cup sprouted pumpkin seeds
- Optional raw Chinese herbs: Shan Yao, Huang Qi
- Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.
- Add onions and season with salt and pepper.
- Cook, stirring often, until onions are softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add beets, sweet potatoes, turmeric, cumin, smoked paprika, and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring for 2 minutes.
- Pour in the vegetable broth.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 45-mins or until the beets are softened.
- Transfer the soup, in batches, to a blender and blend until completely smooth and silky.
- Ladle into bowls and garnish with a big dollop of yogurt, a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds, and a drizzle of olive oil.
- Enjoy!