Smoky Split Pea and Sweet Potato Soup with Turkey Sausage

I love soup year round, but especially when it's cold outside. There is just something so comforting about a hot bowl of soup. Over the weekend I wanted to make Aviva's Split Pea soup, but then I would not be able to blog about it again, and what's the fun in that? So I decided to make a few changes to her recipe and turned it into a Smoky Split Pea and Sweet Potato Soup with Turkey Sausage.

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Smoky Split Pea and Sweet Potato Soup with Turkey Sausage
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 chile in adobo sauce, minced
4 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled, diced
2 teaspoons bourbon smoked paprika
32 ounces reduced-sodium chicken broth
5 cups water
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
1 pound yellow split peas, thoroughly rinsed
1 cup chopped turkey smoked sausage
chopped parsley
homemade croutons {cube a baguette and brown the cubes in a bit of olive oil in a skillet with a bit of salt}

Directions
1. Heat a large soup pot. Add oil, heat. Add the onions, garlic and chipotle in adobo and saute for about 5 minutes. Add carrots and saute for another 5 minutes. Add sweet potatoes and bourbon smoked paprika and saute for 5 minutes.
2. Add the liquid, salt & pepper and the yellow split peas. Bring everything to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the sausage and continue to simmer uncovered for 40-60 minutes until everything is cooked through.
3. Serve in a bowl topped with parsley and croutons.

This is quite a filling soup. It also only gets better as it sits in your refrigerator and is a good candidate for freezing. Keep in mind that the soup does thicken up as it sits.

What's the latest soup you've made?
Happy weekend!