蕃薯糖水 Chinese Sweet Potato and Ginger Soup

Hey hey everyone! How are you guys doing today? As you know, I just finished my health challenge and I have to say, I learned something from it. I mean, I already knew it but it was reinforced after completing the challenge. What I learned is that you should eat things in moderation. If you have a chocolate craving, have a little chocolate. Just don't go overboard. What I also learned is that you don't have to eat super clean to be healthy. Sometimes, it's just not possible to eat 100% clean, due to the environment you live in such as money and the people you live with. It's just better to make healthiest choice possible depending on the situation. Also, my weight pretty much stayed the same (I lost about 2 lbs).
With that being said, here's the recipe for the sweet potato soup I've been talking about lately. It's mainly healthy and nutritious (except for the added sugar). I love this sweet potato soup. Well, actually, when I was little, I loved it. Then, as I was in my elementary school and middle school years, I didn't want to touch it. Now, I love eating it again. It's weird how our taste bud changes, huh? Anyway, here's the recipe. I'm sorry that there's no exact measurement but that's how my parents make things. They eyeball the amounts.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 medium to large sweet potatoes
• about 8 cups water
• 5 -6 sticks Brown Sugar Pieces , depending how sweet you like it
• ginger (optional)

Directions:

1. Peel the skin off the sweet potatoes. Then, cut them into small chunks. 
2. Pour the water into a pot and place the sweet potatoes in. Boil and cook the sweet potatoes until it's soft. 
3. Then, take it off the heat.  Pour some water out of the pot into a huge bowl. Using a huge spoon, mash the sweet potatoes. Then, pour the water back in. 
4. Add in the brown sugar pieces. Cover and heat it until it boils. Then, add in the ginger. Let it sit for a few minutes. 
5. Serve and enjoy.

It's great to serve on a nice cold day. I absolutely love it. Also, if you do not have the brown sugar pieces, you can use brown sugar. You will need about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup, depending how sweet you like it. Adjust it to your taste buds! 

Now, I just ate my new Alpine Valley Multi Grain with Omega-3 Bread. I tried one slice with the PB& CO Dark Chocolate Dreams and another slice with Crunch Time. 

Doesn't it look delicious? I love how the Dark Chocolate Dreams was nice, smooth and creamy. It had more of a peanut butter taste to it but it was still good. You definitely could taste the chocolate too. I love the combination of peanuts and chocolate. 

As for the Crunch Time, I was pleasantly surprised with how much peanut pieces were in the peanut butter. I loved how it gave it a crunch in contrast to the peanut butter. It was sweet but not too sweet. 

As for the bread, I have to say that I'm surprised on how generous they were with the seeds and everything they put in it. The bread had seeds within it too. The bread was chewy on the outside, nice and fluffy in the inside. I enjoyed it. It had a natural sweet, whole grain taste to it. 

What I'm not so happy about are the ingredients. Yes, the first ingredient is Organic Whole Grain Wheat Flour but then the next ingredient is Organic Wheat Flour. Do you notice the word "whole" is not there with the wheat? I'm disappointed that it all the flours they have isn't 100% whole. At least the Organic Whole Grain Wheat Flour was the first on the list, making it the predominant ingredient. It's also good that it's organic. Each slice has 3 grams of protein and 65 calories. Not bad. 

Anyway, reading labels is important. 

What type of bread do you guys like? 

Do you like sweet soups?