Skip to the Recipe
Have you walked into your kitchen after a long day of dealing with one problem after another and realize that neither of you has gone to the store since the last blog post? If you understand, you’ll know how this wonderful soup came to be.
John has some online businesses and sometimes he gets overwhelmed when trying to sort out bloggers’ problems. The day we had this soup went like this. He received an email from a plugin user that said, “It doesn’t work.”
Some of you might think that’s reasonable but the first question is always, “It didn’t install properly?” and then wait for the reply. He got a reply that said, “Yes, it installed but it doesn’t work.” So he wrote back and asked if she’d been able to select the options and she wrote back and said that she’d been able to do all that. He went back and forth for hours and finally he came in to my office totally frustrated.
“I don’t know what to tell her because I can’t find a thing wrong with it. I don’t want to be rude but geez, I’ve spent all day and I’m getting nowhere.” he said.
Being the ever kind wife I said I’d write and I explained to the woman that I was a food blogger who didn’t have much technical know-how but I run my blog pretty well and maybe I could help her to find the right question to ask John.
She was quite rude in her reply that she didn’t need a food blogger to answer her questions because if my husband knew what he was doing, all she’d have to do is hit the button and her blog would be full of recipes.
I laughed until tears came. He’d worked all day solving a problem that didn’t exist. If he’d known in the first place that she was looking for a plugin to provide an instant database of recipes, he would have gotten to way more queries. I did have fun with the reply but things like that wear us out emotionally. BTW, nowhere does it say that EasyRecipe is a database of recipes.
Then… it was time for dinner and we had nothing to eat. We didn’t want fast food, too tired to go out or shop. Then I opened the veggie cabinet and found two large sweet potatoes in the basket and there were a couple of pears that weren’t too ripe sitting fat and happy in the fruit bowl. I had some bagels in the freezer and dinner was on its way. Bagels were not the best thing with this soup but it was something to hold the butter.
Have you ever made sweet potato soup? I’d never made it before but I sure will again. It has a lovely texture and that taste is really wonderful.
- 1 tablespoons butter
- 1 onion chopped
- ½ kilo (1 pound) sweet potatoes peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 pears peeled and chopped (in a pinch, canned pears without sugar or juice work just fine)
- 3-4 cups of broth. I have used vegetable and chicken and they're equally good.
- ¼ cup Greek yogurt
- chopped fresh mint and croutons or roasted sweet potato chunks for garnish
- Place a large pot over medium heat and add the butter. When the butter has melted add the onion and a sprinkling of salt and cook for 3-4 minutes until the onion has softened. Stir often and try to sweat the onions, not brown them.
- Add the sweet potato chunks and sauté in the onions for 2-3 minutes. Add the pears and sauté for another 2 minutes.
- Add the stock to the pot and simmer for 20-30 minutes until the sweet potatoes and pears are soft.
- Whiz with a stick blender until smooth and then test for seasoning. If your stock is salty you might only need some pepper but only you will be able to tell if you like it.
- Reheat almost to the boil and stir in the yogurt.
- Serve with a garnish of fresh chopped mint, croutons or chunks of roasted sweet potato.
- If you need more than two servings, this recipe is easy to double or triple.
wow very nice recipe. i love sweet potato and recipes made by sweet potato.
Thanks for the laugh, Maureen. I had a friend who worked in tech support in the early days of general pc owernship and she had all the usual complaints from customers – “The cupholder is broken”, “My computer doesn’t work at all since I cleaned it… under the shower” “Too many Windows open? What are you talking about? I’ve been around the house and shut all the Windows and still it doesn’t work.”
Anyway, I’m glad your gorgeous soup came out of that day – every cloud has a silver lining, or in this case a lovely golden glow.
LOL…the scene reminds me of a British TV series The IT Crowd…
The soup looks wonderfully creamy and delicious, Maureen.
It was funny after it was over. 🙂
Oh dear!! It’s wonderful how you can keep your good humour and laugh after that!!
The soup looks wonderful! I love roasted sweet potato but I have never made a soup with it. I’ll have to try it before the weather gets too warm.
Oh dear! There’s no need for that woman to be rude. Hasn’t she heard that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar? Or this sweet potato soup which looks scrumptious. Nice new design too M! 😀
Who would have expected her crazy point of view. haha database…
I had a great laugh.
Your soup btw is tempting me and I kind of miss tasting fall recipes.
That was priceless! So nice of you to offer help, and shame, shame on this nasty lady for being rude to you! Next time tell her to call me and I will straighten her up. Real good…
Congrats on making this amazing list of top 100! You deserve it! I see some blogs I read there, like Lavender and Lovage – also well deserved!
great soup, great post!
That list was dumb and you know it. I agreed and I posted it. 🙂
I love that you combined sweet potato and pear! This sounds like the most perfect fall soup – yum!
A blog full of recipes – yes well – thanks for the laugh Maureen – having dealt with the public through my career somehow this doesn’t surprise me:) Used to get some real classics when I did microwave cooking lessons! Love the look of this soup.
That must be so frustrating. I’m not sure I could remain calm especially if the person is unnecessarily rude. The soup looks delicious, great idea, earthy, sweet and savoury. GG
Oh goodness, poor John! What a patient man. Did you tell that lady that he works for you?? Lol! I’m excited to try your soup! Delicious combination of flavors!
Maureen – glad you got a good laugh out of this situation – btw, you had a makeover on here right? I don’t think I noticed it before (your food always has me distracted) but when I read about your hubs being the guru behind Easy Recipe…I started wondering and … your space here looks fantastic! Love the logo!
And love this soup – Ive never had sweet potato soup before – pairing it with pears sounds intoxicating!
Maureen, I’ve been absent so long and see you have a beautiful new look and layout to your blog!! I love how it looks and feels to navigate around. I didn’t know your husband was the behind the scenes man! I so need one of those 🙂
I love how you pulled this soup together; I have many nights like this. And serving a bagel to my son with his soup would make him very happy!!
I laughed until I had tears in my eyes and then some more. As a person who has had to be on the receiving end of “tech malfunction” calls from customers, I can empathize. But laughing always made it better and so would a dinner as gorgeous as this.
Oh my goodness, poor John!! Some people… *insert eye roll* ;). Love your soup!
I have made plenty of sweet potato soups, but adding pears is something I would have never thought to do! Sounds fantastic and I will give it a try soon. I especially loved the line “something to hold the butter” ! We refer to any flat surface of food as being merely a vehicle for the butter at my house. Sorry about the dispiriting encounter with the tech issue. I am the biggest fan of Easy Recipe!
Ha ha! I love butter and I make no apology. 🙂 Thanks for the kind words, John will be very appreciative. He’s struggling to create the website for his new index plugin. A designer he’s not.
I’ve never made sweet potato soup although I love them roasted. This might be the reason why actually. As for pears, such a lovely addition. I’ve been adding then to our smoothies lately. Poor John… Hope he recovered okay from that day.
Too funny! I’m afraid to say there may be a co worker of mine who expect magical things to appear on her computer in much the same way – we’ve never quite worked out if shes messing with our heads with her crazy computer expectations or she really is that dumb.
My kitchen had much the same problem last night & being a Chef I can play around with all types of fancy chefy words like fusion cuisine to justify it, but truth is the cupboard was bare & the freezer offered up some yummy turkey spaghetti bol & the rest was a stir fry of very basic potato, onion, asparagus & fresh herbs…… Yarm.
My cupboard is rarely ‘bare’ but it’s tough to work something out of flour, frozen peas and palm sugar. 🙂
Oh gosh, that made me laugh too. 🙂 Poor John, such things are SO frustrating!! This soup sounds like ideal comfort food after such a disgruntled client.
Poor John. I thought I was at the bottom of the ladder when it came to technology but clearly, there’s a few rungs below my level. What a waste of his time. I’m glad you sorted her out. Your soup looks so smooth and glossy and it’s lovely how you were able to put this together without having to leave the house. Congrats on making it on that list – I don’t know any of the other blogs on it! And yes, Ned lives on xx
You and John have the patience of a saint! Love the soup…. as it happens I have a bag of sweet potatoes… off to get some pears!
I have to agree with Lizzy, you and John have the patience of a saint and I might add a good sense of humor too. Never thought of combining sweet potato with pear but it sure sounds delicious, must give it a try.
I can’t believe how ‘unintelligent’ some people are. Her pronouncement ‘it doesn’t work’ is not the way to get help … how could she NOT know that?
I’ve made sweet potato and lentil soup but never combined it with pear. The soup you’ve made is wonderfully golden and creamy looking.
Great soup indeed Maureen, the flavours must have been sublime!
I love sweet potato and this soup look delicious and new for me.
Usually we make sweet potatos in sweets! But I would love this
I love your recipes!
I definitely asked some dumb questions about web design but I’d like to think I’ve never been rude – there’s just no point. I trust you gave her what for? Nothing like a comforting bowl of soup to end a frustrating day. I must get some bagel in the freezer for emergencies 🙂
Hi Maureen, your husband must be a saint, my husband calls me clicky. Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason what I have clicked on but I know I have done something. Wonderful soup from the pantry!!!
Pears and sweet potatoes scream fall! Aren’t you moving into spring? 🙂 With the weather starting to cool off over here, I’m looking forward to making a big bowl of this soup! Love it!
G’day! I must admit, I did chuckle too!
Sorry that John’s time cause it, but it was a much needed laugh today too!
Your soup looks yum and could go for some now!
Cheers! Joanne
Man, if only it was SOUP weather out here in LA! ha ah!
Such a gourmet soup for not having been to the market. I would have been opening a box of mac and cheese :/ Perfect for our start of autumn on this side of the globe.
PS. I have a trick for making round cookies. First, I use a cookie disher to scoop and roll then the dough balls. Then when they come out of the oven and are still soft, I take my spatula and nudge any bulges back into shape 🙂
Your cookies do look perfectly round 🙂
Congratulations Maureen! Both for making it to the top 100 AND handling that nasty lady with aplomb. I totally know where you are coming from, and right now, I would adore a bowl of that soup.
i love the new look of the site! So fresh and clean and this soup looks fresh and clean as well! Delish!
Wow I think this could become my favorite soup. I love all the ingredients in it and it’s so healthy and bright. This is the perfect soup for fall and winter. I think I may have to make this tonight with dinner. Thanks for sharing this.
Oh, if only our quick meals looked as delicious as this soup! But I love sweet potatoes… but have never turned them into soup, that I recall. And the sweetness of the pears? What a lovely meal after dealing with a crazy client.
Oh yes, I had a weekend like that and I promised by husband a “real” meal this evening. I had a woman tell me that an original painting I was selling at my antique both was a reproduction when in fact the well known artist had painted il for me. A hot bowl of your soup waiting for me after the long two day event would have been wonderful.
wow, simply delicious and comforting sweet potato soup!!!
never added pear into it before, tempting to try……
I’m sorry you and John had to deal with such a negative customer! At least this soup looks totally comforting and delicious, what a gorgeous dish!
Aww, MF, anyone dealing with the public, especially on technical things has come up against people like that. They just can’t say, “I don’t know.” 🙂
Wow way to be rude without a reason! Sometimes people are crazy!
Love your soup, it totally would have brightened your day – never thought of sweet potato and pear being a good combo but I trust you 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
If you love pumpkin soup, this is similar but with a different flavour. LOL
Oh Maureen. Its been forever, love the look of your site all very professional. I tried sweet spud in soup once with chickpeas it was really nice, a little on the hummus like side but still good. May have to try yours out since Isla is loving both sweetpotatoes and pears at the moment. Hope you have a good day.
John is a good sport, and you, Maureen, are a dear for helping out. Despite the doozy of a day, the meal you came up with is gorgeous and a winning combination. Congratulations on the top 100 nod, and I’m loving the renovation of your place!
There are those bad days when one would feel unproductive. Soups are very comforting, for some reason, and this lovely dish could bring the comfort during the not-so-good days :). Thanks for sharing this soup dish and your story!
Gourmet Getaways
Hi Maureen!
Oh how I can relate. I sometimes wish I had as much patience as your husband and you but alas, sometimes I just don’t. Of course, I lose my patience once I hang up the phone or close the email. Rarely do I laugh afterwards. (I run a septic business from my home but that is a whole other story, lol…)
As for that soup, well, it sure looks beautiful! I have “thrown” together some odd combinations but I can’t say I would even consider sweet potatoes and pears. How inspiring!!! I must try it now because, why not, lol…
Thank you so much for sharing, Maureen…
You should try this soup. 🙂
Sweet potato and pear…what an intriguing combination! Looks refreshing and sweet for the fall…
Maureen, it’s times like these that make you want to shove your fist down the telephone line into the face of the caller. (But better to eat your nice soup instead)!
Yes, Fran. Better to be nice to the people. 🙂
good looking soup maureen. oh that is a funny story! do you think she just wanted access to lots of recipes or was she going to pretend that she had made them up for her blog?!
I have had this craving to put pears in soup for the last couple of weeks, don’t know why?? You have beat me to it with this gorgeous soup, nicely done!!
Sweet potato and PEAR – Now that is really something else! Pinning for this weekend me thinks! Natures candy in soup form! <3
Dear Maureen, I love sweet potatoes in any form!! This soup looks elegant and perfect for the holiday dinners coming up. I think the bagel is fine. Personally, I love bagels and try not to keep them around simply for that reason!
Blessings dear. Catherine xo
p.s. Your site looks very pretty.
OMG… I think John is too smart for this lady – no wonder he couldn’t figure out. 😀 I hope I wasn’t causing too much problem when I had a question/help… I know how hard he works and I can’t imagine getting emails non stop from bloggers… considering they are mostly problems than thank you notes, it can be very tough. Thank you for your hard work John and Maureen! And sweet potatoes and pear soup. Any day… I’d be happy to have this soup!
You were the most gracious person ever, Nami! He only gets upset when people are rude or they say, “It’s broken” without any information to work with. 🙂
What a wonderful story and so typical of computer knowledge – I think we have all been there! Great recipe too, I have never thought to soup sweet potatoes 😀
Mmm…perfect flavors for fall here. 🙂
I am all over this I love sweet potato and anything with fruit in it is a winner for me and yes I have days like that all the time when I realise I have nothing to cook and have to wing it in the kitchen all the time often that is when I create the best things 😀
It has been a very long time since I used or followed directions on someone else’s recipe. I made this soup exactly as presented, which is hard for me. I’m a chef, I am always thinking of ways to combine and use ingredients. I expected a “ladies who lunch” starter soup and I was SO WRONG. Fantastic flavor, perfectly balanced and very filling. And I used those two soft pears going to waste. I am seldom surprised by a food combination and this was so good! Thanks Maureen , this is a keeper!
I love that soup! Thanks so much for letting me know you like it too.