{"id":151569,"date":"2014-02-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gracious-khorana.45-76-20-142.plesk.page\/localmex12014x102x1feast-the-cookbook-sweet-potato-kale-tortilla-soup-htmlx1\/"},"modified":"2023-06-26T17:12:01","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T17:12:01","slug":"feast-the-cookbook-sweet-potato-kale-tortilla-soup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/localmilkblog.com\/2014\/02\/feast-the-cookbook-sweet-potato-kale-tortilla-soup.html","title":{"rendered":"Feast the Cookbook: Sweet Potato & Kale Tortilla Soup"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I live in a relatively small town. That means that most of my treasures come in one of two ways: second hand or in parcels by way of mail. The unopened box is a chief pleasure (as is my impatient & inefficient tearing into them) topped only by the joy of discovering something as precious as this book inside. Containing well over 125 vegetarian recipes, Feast<\/em><\/a> by Sarah Copeland<\/a> of the blog Edible Living<\/a> instantly earned a place on the kitchen shelf. The kitchen shelf is the spot, the coveted spot. I\u2019m a voracious cookbook collector, always searching for inspiration, and that means that much of my impressively (embarrassingly?) large collection lives on the bookshelf in my office (\/guest room\/room where my personal organizational failures live). I keep a small, curated collection in my kitchen. They\u2019re the ones I actually cook from (which is saying something as my even loosely using a recipe is a rare occurrence), the ones that I thumb through in the evening, reading like novels.<\/p>\n

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Still stove-less, I took Feast<\/em><\/a> over to my brother & sister-in-law\u2019s house to play (they live down the street\u2014it\u2019s a good life). They\u2019re both getting healthy (healthier than me, for sure)\u2014exercising, eating right. You know the drill. That and (this is\u00a0huge<\/em>!) she\u2019s now \u201ceating for two\u201d as they say. Which means for the first time in my life I\u2019m going to be an aunt. To my little brother\u2019s kid. There are no children to speak of in our family. The last one born was my brother. It\u2019s surreal and makes me feel the spectre of my mortality. My mind doesn\u2019t wrap around the idea easily. But I\u2019m excited in my clannish way (my family is clannish) and already eyeing vintage, rattan rockers at the flea market and reading up on the French way of training children to eat just about anything. This child will be one of our own. And I don\u2019t even know what that means. Which is all to say this book, technicolor with seasonal recipes, was the perfect book to bring to their house, \u00a0to two new parents-to-be making an active effort to take care of themselves. The recipes in Feast <\/i><\/a>are\u00a0what you feed the people you care about deeply.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve never been around children before. I think I\u2019ve held a baby once, ever. And I was probably drunk at the time (it was at my ill-starred wedding\u2026all good reasons that I no longer drink). I wouldn\u2019t say I\u2019m particularly good with children. They don\u2019t, thank god, seem to revile me, and from time to time a particularly intrepid child will even take an inexplicable liking to me. I\u2019m not a hater of children, but I\u2019m not a lover of them either. They confuse me. Sometimes, and maybe I\u2019m horrible for admitting this, they even bore me. All virtues, no doubt, of simply never being exposed to them save when I was one myself. But now there\u2019s going to be a child in this world that I care about in that way you care about blood. It\u2019s as close to having my own as I can imagine\u2014his wife is a sister to me. Which is something I can\u2019t really imagine at this juncture. I\u2019m excited for this experience, for something new under my sun. And so happy for two of the most important people in the world to me.<\/p>\n

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So Feast<\/em> in hand, I showed up on their doorstep to cook them lunch on my brother\u2019s day off. We both grew up on fast food, children of the 80\u2019s and all that. It took for him. The only reason it didn\u2019t take for me (save a long standing obsession in high school with Wendy\u2019s spicy chicken sandwich\u2026) is because I\u2019m passionate about cooking and moved on to bigger & better obsessions like pungent cheese and anything that takes three days to prepare. Had I not been wired that way, I probably would\u2019ve gotten stuck in the same rut he did. The drive through rut. But over the years he\u2019s evolved, largely in part thanks to the cooking talent & efforts of his wife Ruthie (who happens to be my sometimes photographer\u2014if you see a photo of me on here, chances are she took it for me). That\u2019s where books like Sarah\u2019s Feast\u00a0<\/em>come in. Books full of whole foods both flavorful and dynamic enough to convert \u00a0those of a generation who\u2019s tastebuds had been flat fried out on processed food. My brother has long since given up the drive through, but now he\u2019s not only mindful of what he eats but open. He even eats avocado now! And he loved the soup. I\u2019m pretty sure southern men are the litmus test for great vegetarian cooking; if they like it, it\u2019s damn fine.<\/p>\n

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Being in Tennessee and it being winter, Sarah\u2019s<\/a> recipe for Sweet Potato & Kale Tortilla Soup leapt out at me immediately. The fact that she also has recipes for homemade tortillas, both corn and flour, in the book sealed the deal. We would have made the corn tortillas in the spirit of authenticity but had no cornflour on hand. No regrets. These flour tortillas are flavorful, quick, and painless. Ruthie tended to making them while I whipped up the soup (and climbed up on her furniture photographing it, naturally). And I found that it\u2019s true, the tortillas are sublime, as Sarah<\/a> says in her book, with nothing more than a squeeze of lime and a bit of salt.<\/p>\n

So, soup heaped high with toppings (avocado, radish, queso fresco, greek yogurt, lime, and crispy strips of tortilla galore!) and bowls in hand we enjoyed it as I\u2019ve enjoyed so many meals at their house, all of us sitting on their bed. That\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>a family style meal.<\/p>\n

You can get your copy of Feast here<\/a>, and you can find more of Sarah\u2019s wonderful work here on her site Edible Living<\/a>. I hope you all enjoy the book as much as I do\u2026it\u2019s one of the best I\u2019ve found all year!<\/p>\n

And now for one last thing before I give you the goods. I\u2019m so flattered to have been nominated for a Better Homes & Gardens<\/a> blogger award. I grew up with my mother reading that magazine\u2026so it\u2019s a little surreal. Little kid me definitely wouldn\u2019t have ever thought one day I\u2019d be on their radar! So, ifns you like, you can vote for me here.<\/a><\/strong> Like once an hour (seriously, you can\u2026soooo\u2026you know.)<\/p>\n

Sources: Spoon by Board & Bread<\/a>, serving board by Joseph Huebscher (his work can be found in Sweet Gum Co.<\/a>), linen napkin by Fog Linen<\/a>, and the rest is borrowed or second hand.<\/p>\n

Okay, now the goodies, Sarah\u2019s beautiful recipes\u2026<\/p>\n

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