Sweet potato BACON soup

I have a secret to share with you all... one of my favorite cooking tricks... ready? Everything tastes better when it's cooked in bacon fat. "Well no duh, it's bacon" you might say. But you probably also cringe at the thought of saving bacon fat in a little side cup and (gasp) adding fat to your food. Well guess what? Don't stress about it. Bacon fat is not going to make you fat.

If you're interested in learning more about why this is, here is a link to a talk given by the creator of Fat Head, a response to and criticism of Supersize Me. Or here is a cardiothoracic surgeon from the University of Washington discussing why saturated fats are good for you. If you want more resources, feel free to contact me! I've got buckets of sources for ya. 

Or.... if you don't feel like doing research, you can just take my word for it. Jump on the bacon fat train. 

In order to save bacon fat, just spoon up the extra fat when you cook bacon on the stovetop, then put it in a mason jar, tupperware, solo cup... any container of your choosing will work. Then, use it all the time. 

My personal favorite is cooking eggs in bacon grease. Bacon flavor without the bacon prep, say what? It makes eggs that much better and brings all the boys to the yard. Ok, not really... but I keep trying. 

You can also use bacon fat when cooking vegetables! Mmmmmmmm.....

Lastly, use bacon fat to cook other meats in. Double the meat, double the flavor, double the fun. 

Those are all my age-old favorites, but I recently found this recipe for a sweet potato bacon soup that is to die for. It's sweet, spicy, delectably smooth, and has bacon. Score. 

What you'll need: 

• 6 slices of bacon
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tsp Lebanese Spice blend (recipe here; don't worry about having extra, use the leftovers as a flavor boost for burgers! You won't regret it)
• 1/2 Tbsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• dash of cayenne (more or less depending on your spice tolerance)
• 5 cloves garlic, minced or smashed
• 2 lbs. sweet potatoes
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup water

What you need to do:

0. This is a "before-you-do-anything-else" step. Chop up your sweet potatoes into thin slices. If you don't do it now, you will be rushing around in the middle of cooking, trying not to burn anything or ruin the dish. You're welcome. 

1. Acquire bacon fat. It can come from that nifty little side cup that you already have going or from a fresh batch off the skillet (check out The Art of Manliness on how to properly cook bacon on the stovetop). Somehow, you'll just need to end up with about a tablespoon in the bottom of a large soup pot. 

2. Turn the pan on medium high heat and add the onion, Lebanese spice, salt, pepper, and cayenne to the pot. Stir occasionally for about 6 minutes, or until the onions are soft. Toss in the garlic and wait about 30 seconds or until it's really fragrant. Then... 

3. Add your beautifully pre-chopped sweet potatoes, broth, and water to the pot. Bring it to a boil, reduce to a simmer, then cover and cook for about 15 minutes. The time will fluctuate based on how thickly your sweet potatoes are sliced, but leave them in there until they are soft.

4. If you have an immersion blender, that's great! Stick it in there and blend it all up. Almost as magical as a crockpot. If you don't, that's ok too. You might just have a bit more clean-up (but what's cooking without the mess, right?). Just use a food processor or blender and blend in batches until smooth.  

5. Sprinkle a bowl of this beauty with some of the bacon that you made earlier and eat up! 

Note: If you are a vegetarian, this soup would still be fantastic without the bacon, too! Just use coconut oil as a substitute. 

I like to have this soup for breakfast. The spices wake me up while there's also something soothing about a hot bowl of creamy soup in the morning. 

It's fun to challenge the conventional notions of breakfast, lunch, and dinner by eating whatever you want, whenever you want. Who says spaghetti pizza pie and sweet potato soup isn't for breakfast? Cause that's what I had this morning.