The October issue of Martha Stewart Living is packed with recipes that I can't wait to make. This weekend, my husband and I made Martha's Smoky Sweet Potato Soup. The recipe is on page 192. I'll post a link as soon as it becomes available on her website. Don't be intimated by Martha! In the last few years the magazine's recipe have become more accessible to home cooks, requiring less special equipment and fewer fancy techniques.

This recipe takes advantage of fall veggies. It has leeks, sweet potatoes, fresh ginger, apple, garlic and celery. It's healthy and delicious! We thought it tasted like a wonderful first course for Thanksgiving and it would be a great make-ahead-and-warm-up-on-the-grill tailgate dish for cold weather football. (Please tell me my husband and I aren't the only people who like to serve soup at tailgates.)

This soup recipe took twice as long to simmer as indicated in the recipe, but this could because of our ancient electric stove (ew, I know) and/or my lazy chopping.

A couple of tips:

• Give your leeks a good rinse and then chop them into slices. Then let them sit in cold water for a couple of minutes, drain water and repeat. Leeks can be really grimy. The dirt gets stuck in all sorts of little crevices!

• 2 pounds of sweet potatoes is about 2 large sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are really big and delicious right now.

• Don't touch the chipotle or the adobo sauce with your fingers. I cover the can with several layers of plastic wrap and freeze for months. It will easily last through the holiday season if you keep it in the freezer! Chipotles add flavor to all sorts of store-bought soups and sauces. But, they are spicy. If you or your family members don't enjoy spice, just omit the chipotle. I'd add 1 teaspoon of cumin to add a touch of spice. If some of your guests like spicy and some don't then you can puree a few servings of the soup and plate them before you add the chipotle (or half of a chipotle) and then puree and plate the spicier versions. The blending doesn't take much time.

• Be patient and blend in small batches to get a smooth consistency. Steam will come out of the top of the blender lid, so follow the directions and use a clean dish towel to cover the opening.

• We topped our soup with chopped pistachios instead of pepitas (pumpkin seeds) because pistachios were in our pantry. It was the perfect garnish. We served sesame sticks, crackers and tortilla chips with the soup. The salty tortilla chips were our favorite.

• This can easily be a vegetarian-friendly dish. Just use water or vegetable broth instead of chicken stock. If you use water, add a generous tablespoon of kosher salt and pepper.

• The recipe says this will serve 10 and I suppose it will if everyone has a small portion. For us, it served six.

This recipe for Sweet Potato and Chipotle Soup doesn't have the bounty of veggies in the one we made, but I bet it's still plenty tasty!