Meals that last several nights are like gold in our house given our long work days and minimal energy at the end. Soup is usually an ideal way to go because a variety of ingredients can be used at once and leftovers are as easy as preparing Charlie’s dinner. We had several random items of food in our house that needed to be used up so I haphazardly created a loose version of corn chowder with a sweet potato purée base, sautéed cauliflower, and baked chicken. The end result cleaned out our full cupboards and provided a cozy meal perfect for a cold day.

{Ingredients}
1/2 cup olive oil
Three large sweet potatoes
Half of one red onion
One red pepper
Three cups chicken broth
3/4 cup heavy cream
Four chicken breasts
Spices of choice (I used garlic, red pepper flakes, cumin, salt, pepper, and oregano)
One head of cauliflower
Two cups chopped mushrooms
Two cups corn

To get “grilled” chicken without a grill I used a cooling rack on a jelly roll pan covered in tin foil. The chicken marinated in olive oil, chopped garlic, red pepper flakers, cumin, and oregano before cooking for 30 minutes at 350°.

Sauté the onions, pepper, and sweet potatoes in olive oil. Once they are tender begin adding chicken broth and bring to a boil. After approximately ten minutes I began to purée the mixture using an immersion blender.

Once the consistency I wanted was achieved (thick and chunky) I added the heavy cream, spices to taste, and let simmer for approximately 20 minutes. Meanwhile I sautéed the cauliflower and mushrooms in olive oil. Once they were cooked well I added that mixture, the corn, and the chicken to the soup and simmered for ten more minutes. We topped it off with chopped scallions and enjoyed it with warm, hearty bread.