Hey my sweet taters! Ginger Sweet Potato Coconut Milk Soup with Lentils and Kale

https://thefirstmess.com/2020/02/19/sweet-potato-coconut-milk-stew/

Yesterday I joined a "self-care practice."  I joined to develop better habits, mood, and journal more.  Side note, I have been able to fully come off my anti-depressant!  Is this a good thing?  I don't know.  It kind of happened on accident, I was working with my doctor to come off and had cut down to every other day, then I forgot to take it for a prolonged period of time.  Taking it made me feel worse getting all that "chemical" back into my body.  So I took a deep breath, told my co-workers so they would know if I start acting weird, this is why.  I sweat bad, and coming fully off of it was rough.  But I did it, and still went to work, and school.  

So back to the self-care practice, this is to help me stay checked in.  There is an app that is a support group, and someone posted this AMAZING recipe.  I saw it and said, "OH MY GOODNESS!"  One of my first therapist told me cooking and trying new recipes was a good practice.  Well, you may have heard the story.  First try, this was a couple days out of the psych ward, I was trying something new out and set my whole dang kitchen on fire!!!!  The entire rescue squad team had to come out!  So I read this recipe last night and with it being a colder week in the Charlotte area, I would give it a whirl.  I liked that it is gluten free, vegan, and includes about everything I LOVE in food.  I'll do anything for a sweet potato!  I don't know if I've ever eaten Lentils, and they were actually pretty good, if that was in fact a lentil I was tasting.

Here is the ingredient list:

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, small dice
• ½-1 teaspoon dried chili flakes (I use Diaspora Co's ground Guntur Sannam Chillies)
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
• 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 ½ lbs (690 grams) sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1-inch pieces
• ½ cup brown lentils, picked over
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 13.5 oz (400 ml) can full fat coconut milk
• 1 small bunch kale, stems removed and leaves chopped (about 4 cups chopped kale)
• To garnish: chopped cilantro, extra chili flakes, lime wedges, nigella seeds

A few Allison notes.  I didn't add a lot of the seasonings because I don't know what some of them are.  I'm not a cook.  I couldn't find chili flakes at the store, have no idea what they look like.  I don't know what coriander is.  I thought for sure I had turmeric, but I didn't so siri told me I could substitute paprika (southerners have that for their deviled eggs).

I have no idea what pounds or grams is, so I just threw the whole container in there.  I don't have time to mince things, so I buy the already minced stuff.

Here's how my soup turned out.  It was so good!!  I highly recommend. 10 out of 10 stars! 

As custom with my blogs on here, I like to share thankfulness, laughter, and nature for our mental health. 

Three Things I'm thankful for:

Disney Hits Playlist on Spotify, my taste buds, heat in my home

Laughter:

Nature:

I went to the beach the last week of January, beautiful!