Spicy Pumpkin, Apple, Carrot, Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup

This is my own spin on a recipe I had posted a couple of months ago. The original recipe was found on Allrecipes.com. I have made several adjustments, such as adding pumpkin, using brown lentils instead of red, adding garlic, using a Habanero, topping with Feta cheese, a bit more spices and a few other changes. It was a HUGE hit with the family. This is a perfect dish for the cold winter evenings. It will warm you up from the inside out!

Click here for the original recipe.

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter
1 large sweet potato*
1 large yam*
3 large carrots - peeled and chopped
1 large yellow onion -  chopped
1 Granny Smith apple - peels, cored and chopped
1/2 cup lentils
3/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp paprika
4 cups vegetable broth**
1/4-1/2 Habanero - chopped***
3 cloves garlic - chopped
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
Feta cheese

* I like to mix my sweet potatoes and yams ~ yams tend to be sweeter, so it gives the soup a little more sweetness, but feel free to use 2 sweet potatoes, or 2 yams!

** Try eliminating the stock when you transfer to the food processor, and use the thick puree to stuff a mini pumpkin during the holidays! That will definitely impress the fam!

*** Start small when using the Habanero and add according to your taste. Half a Habanero goes a long way so use caution!

Directions

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium high heat. Put chopped potatoes, carrots, apple and onion in the pot and cook until the onions are translucent; about 10 minutes.

Stir in the lentils, ginger, pepper, salt, cumin, habanero, paprika, garlic and veggie broth into the pot. Bring the soup to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until lentils and veggies are soft; About 30 minutes.

In batches, spoon the soup into a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth and pour into a clean pot.

Return the pureed soup to the stove. Bring back to a simmer over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes. Add more broth if you wish for it to be thinner. Pour into a bowl and top with crumpled feta!