Recipe(tried): Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup (blender)

I can't remember for sure where I picked up the original for this recipe, probably from a blog I stumbled upon by someone calling herself HomesickTexan. I made a few changes to suit my family's tastes. DH and I had a similar soup at a wine-and-food-pairing dinner at a winery, and had to try to recreate it. This recipe is pretty close. Serve small portions if you make it really spicy. I like to serve crispy, buttery baguette slices with it, for the contrast.

CHIPOTLE SWEET POTATO SOUP
Serves 8-10

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 medium onion, rough chopped
2 stalks of celery, rough chopped
2 carrots, peeled and rough chopped
4 cloves of garlic, smashed
2 pounds of sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 cups of chicken broth
2 to 4 chipotles in adobo (depending on your heat tolerance) chopped
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 Tbsp lime juice
1/4 tsp sugar
Salt (to taste)
Crema fresca (to serve)

Heat the olive oil on medium in a large soup pot, and cook the onions, celery and carrot for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the garlic and cook for one more minute.

Add the sweet potatoes, broth, chipotles, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.*

Carefully puree the soup in a blender.

Stir in the lime juice, sugar, and salt to taste. Serve with crema fresca.

*While the 20-minute cooking time is sufficient, we found with our second batch that 30 minutes resulted in a smoother puree.