I originally posted this recipe in February 2012 on my health & fitness blog.

This is my second in a series of recipes meant to show that healthy eating can be cost effective too.

This recipe is directly from Canadian Living, with a couple of minor tweaks (due to availability of ingredients in my pantry). All pictures are mine, however – they didn’t feature a photo of the finished product.

To make this soup, you will need:

1.5 pounds (675 grams) raw sweet potatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 small onion, chopped
1 carrot (I use about 6-8 baby ones) chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp pepper (I just ground my pepper mill a couple of times)
1 tsp oregano
4 cups vegetable broth (I used home made broth, very low sodium)
2 cups water

Preheat oven to 450F. Peel and cube the sweet potatoes. Toss the sweet potatoes with 1 tbsp of the oil and 1/4 tsp salt. Place on a baking sheet and roast for 20-40 minutes, until tender, stirring a few times.

As the potatoes are roasting, heat the other 1 tbsp of oil in a large stock pot. Saute the vegetables until soft, 5-10 minutes. Add the remaining salt, pepper and oregano.

Add the sweet potatoes, water and vegetable stock, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Allow the soup to cool slightly – I gave it about 40 minutes, only because I was prepping another dish for my family. Puree the soup in batches in your blender or food processor, and return to a clean pot. The original recipe says to strain the soup, but that is only to catch the occasional big chunk, so I don’t bother.

Heat the soup slightly if it has cooled too much, and serve!

This soup is definitely hearty enough to be a full meal if you have 1.5 – 2 servings – but so low in calories that 2 servings is still just over 200 calories!

According to the Canadian Living website, the nutritional breakdown, based on 8 servings (approximately 3/4 cup each) is:

Calories: 111
Protein: 3 grams
Fat: 4 grams
Carbs: 16 grams

I’m not including a cost breakdown simply because the cost of produce can fluctuate so much, but it is a very budget friendly meal, and perfect for fall & winter!