What I Ate:
There’s something about winter that makes me crave good “stick to your ribs” kind of meals. The trouble is, I don’t want fat sticking to the exterior of my ribs or anywhere else for that matter, so I need to be sure not to eat super fatty meals every day, no matter how comforting they may be. One meal I look forward to eating every fall/winter is potato soup. A good potato soup makes me feel like curling up by a fire imagining that I have a fireplace for said fire, and imagining snow falling outside which happens once every 5 years here in Georgia. It’s such a warm, familiar meal and does not require any side dishes to be plenty sufficient as a meal.
Unfortunately, oftentimes potato soups either have heavy doses of cream (Who am I kidding? That sounds GREAT!) or the healthier versions sometimes lack a depth of flavor that I look for in a potato soup. In order to reconcile my desire for a rich, creamy potato soup and a my desire to maintain a decent waistline, I’ve concocted this soup with a few sneaky tricks to make it taste creamy but remain figure-friendly.
Figure Friendly “Creamy” Potato Soup
Ingredients
8 medium gold potatoes, skin can remain on, halved
1 large yellow onion, quartered
2 whole cloves garlic
1 head cauliflower, cut into large chunks
1 can navy beans, drained
3 springs fresh Thyme
salt
1-1/2 cups shredded carrots
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
Directions
In a large soup pot, bring enough water to cover potatoes, cauliflower, garlic and onions to a boil. Generously season the water with salt so that it tastes like the sea. Boil potatoes, cauliflower, garlic and onions until they are tender and can be cut with a fork. In a food processor, puree the cooked vegetables until mostly smooth. Obviously, this makes a lot so you’ll need to do it in batches and transfer the processed vegetables to a large bowl until you can return everything to the soup pot. Reserve about a cup of the water you boiled the vegetables in, pouring the rest of the water out. Return the puree vegetables to the pot and set on medium-low heat. Stir in the broth, carrots, beans, and thyme. Bring to a low boil and cook until the carrots become tender. If you really want cream, you can add a splash of cream at the very end but the gold potatoes have a buttery texture, especially after being processed so you will want to taste test first.
Garnish with chopped green onion and a few crumbles of bacon and/or shredded cheddar for an added treat.
Enjoy!
