Sweet Potato, Garlic and Pepper Soup with Toasted Pine Nuts

As a crossfitter, it is almost a crime to not try to follow a paleo diet! But being paleo as a vegetarian comes with significant challenges because your protein sources are totally cut down. You cannot eat beans, legumes, dairy, grains (no quinoa, rye, oats, barley), tofu, any starchy food, etc etc. Its the ultimate Ron Swanson diet if you're into meats but I aint, so it was hard for me to find the foods that I could eat and enjoy. I followed the Paleo diet for a week and found this gem of a soup recipe. Its easy to make and tastes gourmet. I ended up eating this soup 3 times during the Paleo week (lol!) and continue to make it to this day!

So here's what you need for it

Ingredients

1 sweet potato
4-5 garlic cloves
400 ml of vegetable stock
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 lemon peels
2-3 tbsp pine nuts
Salt to taste
Unground pepper with a grinder (can substitute ground pepper too)

Directions:

1. In a sauce pan (that you will cook the soup in) sauté the garlic and olive oil till garlic is medium  brown. Stir regularly to avoid the garlic from burning.
2. Add the sweet potato, lemon peel, cumin seeds, vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Let it simmer till the sweet potato is quite soft. This usually takes me about 20 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and either food process in a processor or use a hand held blender. I use a blender to minimize the mess of transferring. Puree till very smooth. Note: Be careful using the blender as the mixture is quite hot!
4. I now add whole peppercorns and grind some pepper to taste. This soups is very peppery and I love the whole peppercorns. But you can easily use ground pepper to your taste.
5. Add salt to taste. 
6. Separately, roast some pine nuts in a pan till they are a little brown. Add to the soup and serve.

The steps are pretty straightforward!

The finished product! Delish soup!

This soup can be stored for at least 7-10 days in the fridge as it has no dairy so nothing particularly goes "bad". Its also great to serve guests for its unique flavors and the pine nuts add a touch of luxury. Hope you enjoy this yummy soup! :)