Sweet Potato, Cabbage, and Black Bean Soup with Almond Butter

This is probably the best thing I’ve made in a while!! And thank goodness because it made a TON!!! It was gluten-free, vegan, and yet totally filling and satisfying. My roommate described it as an African dance party in her mouth, which – I’m not sure what that tells you. But it was super good!!

This was really a combination of 2 recipes: I had found this one recipe from Cinnamon, Spice and Everything Nice but it looked too complicated. And so then I found this other recipe from Ashland Food Co-op. But then I sort of followed them both.

Ingredients in both recipes that I used:

• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 cups cabbage (I used red) rough chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 3 1/2 cups sweet potatoes, diced small (I used UNpeeled)
• 4 cups vegetable broth (I used unsalted bouillon and warm water)

~Ingredients from Cinnamon that I used:

• 1 teaspoon chile powder (I used red pepper flakes because it’s what I had)
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme (less than they called for – not sure how I feel about thyme)
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• a dash or two of cayenne pepper
• 1/3 apple, minced (I used UN peeled, Granny Smith, less than they called for)
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

~Ingredients from Ashland that I used:

• 1 tablespoon grated peeled ginger
• ½ cup peanut butter (I used crunchy almond butter – worked amazingly!)
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce (I used this weird cabernet marinara, and way less than they called for because I didn’t realize how little I had)
• 1 tablespoon tamari (I almost bought Braggs instead – anyone have thoughts on this? I forgot why it’s supposed to be better so I didn’t get it)
• Scallions chopped for garnish

Sauté the oil, garlic, ginger, and onions until soft. Add in the cabbage, sweet potatoes, apple, spices, vinegar, and most of the broth. Bring to boil and then simmer for ~15 minutes. Add in the beans. Mix together the rest of the broth with the almond butter, tomato sauce, and tamari and add that in. Taste and add more spices as desired. Serve garnished with scallions.

It’s really good just like that, but my roommate added goat cheese and corn chips to hers and said that worked well too.