Monday, October 13, 2008

Baked Potato Soup

So I don't know about your neck of the woods- but here it's gotten chilly fast. My family is not very soupy- generally they turn their noses up at anything that's not condensed from Campbell's. (I know!) Soup for dinner rarely goes over well. But I keep trying. After a not well attended church dinner we ended up with about 15 baked potatoes. We're not big potato eaters here either. I was recovering from surgery and just had the kids throw them in the freezer.

I made this soup with those potatoes for the second time tonight- it's so easy and so delicious I need to share.

From food, snow, garden

I got my starter recipe from YumSugar. Their picture is much better then mine. I did take some liberties though.

3 tbsp. butter
1/2 of a large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced (I used a couple Tablespoons of pre-minced garlic. I like garlic)
6 baking potatoes already baked and skinned and coarsely chopped
2/3 cup all-purpose flour (about 3 oz.)
6 cups milk (use 2 percent reduced fat if you prefer- I actually mixed up some powdered milk and used it to save $$)
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese, divided (use reduced fat if you prefer)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
3/4 cup chopped green onions, divided
6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled- I used pre-crumbled, pre-cooked bacon to save time
1 cup cooked millet or white quinoa (optional)
Cracked black pepper (optional)

You start off by making a roux. Once you've learned how to make a roux you never need to 'dump in can of cream of ____ soup' again. Plus it doesn't have MSG- which gives me headaches so I avoid using it.

1. Melt your butter, add the onion and garlic and cook until onions are clear. Gradually have your flour out and add it to butter- whisking as you go. When you've added all the flour (will be clumpy) gradually add milk, whisking as you go again until all the milk is added. This is your Roux.

2. Let cook, stirring as you go for about 5 minutes- then add potatoes and grain (millet or quinoa). Let simmer until it thickens (about 15 minutes) then add the bacon, sour cream and 1/2 the cheese as well as the salt.

3. Let simmer until you're ready to serve (add pepper and garlic powder to taste) then top with a dollop of sour cream, green onions and cheese.

I served ours with the easiest home made bread. Recipe coming soon for that. Great warm meal on a chilly fall or winter day.

My family actually LOVES this. Even though they're not soup eaters.

3 comments:

Hillary said...

I love this soup! I have a similar recipe that a friend of mine shared with me a while ago, and I make it all the time. It's sooo yummy!

Emily said...

I love potato soup! Your recipe looks great, thanks for sharing.

Amanda XOX said...

Yay a NEW post! I really like this site and I'm learning from you oh great one =o) about food storage and wowing food and really great things!! I found that Quinoa stuff at a food storage store in St. George- yeah, quite a ways from LV. And thanks for explaining 'roux' b/c I had never heard of it.