The sweet potato soup I stole off Mario at Craftbar a few posts down was so yummy I was inspired to find a recipe and make it myself (also, I finally got myself an immersion blender and have been itching to use it).

Sweet Potato Soup

This came out sooo well! I know it’s hot now and no one really wants soup, but you must make this ASAP! The texture was fabulously smooth; if velvet could melt in your mouth, it would feel like this soup.

Recipe and tips after the jump:
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I’ve been searching for a “user-friendly” place to get my feet with with Vietnamese food because I feel like I’m missing out on so much of Atlanta’s food options. Though it’s actually in Charlotte, Vietnam Grille, was just the place I needed for an introduction. Charlotte bloggers and Yelpers were singing its praises, so Mario and I decided to check it out one gorgeous weekend in the Queen City.

Our server was super friendly and apparently recognized the slightly perplexed looks on our faces, as he asked if it was our first time eating Vietnamese and gave some suggestions. I decided to try the phở with flank steak and brisket, and Mario got the broken rice (which I believe was Cơm tấm, but correct me if I’m wrong) with chicken:

Phở

Cơm tấm

Our dishes came out literally within 5 minutes and we dug in.
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Oh, Atlanta. Your climate is classified “humid subtropical”. Your summers are unbearably hot and sticky. So why do you insist on remaining well below freezing (this Louisianian considers <50 “freezing”) for weeks at a time?? The only upside to this dismal weather is the hot foods I’m finding to keep me warm. A few weekends ago, I decided to make a warming comfort food: French onion soup.

French Onion Soup

I’ve had to try to convince people before that even if you don’t like onions, you will like this soup. I mean, who could resist such depth of flavor, such heartiness, such…cheesy melty goodness? French onion soup does take a while to make properly, but even for my first attempt (for which I am already plotting improvements), it was well worth the time.
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To start off the New Year right, I bought a copy of the Flat Belly Diet! Cookbook. Before you judge/laugh, 1) It’s a diet cookbook with a cupcake on the cover! and 2) I’m not really on the diet (so I can’t speak for its efficacy), but I always need some fresh “healthy eating” recipes around. So during the ridiculously cold snap we had, I decided to make the vegetarian Curried Apple & Pear soup from my new cookbook. This was a little outside my tastebuds’ normal comfort zone spice-wise, but I ended up enjoying it a lot!

Curried Apple & Pear Soup

Due to copyright issues I don’t think I can actually reproduce the recipe here, but I’ll give a walkthrough and maybe you can find something similar via your favorite search engine.
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