Crockin...Potato Soup Version

Hi my name is Jules and I love to eat....especially anything that contains cream...hmmm creamy goodness... I have to snap out of that thought and drown myself in a slightly healthier yet still super creamy potato soup.

I have been on a mission to make everything a little healthier for my family and in that mission I never dreamt of potato soup because all the cream combined with potatoes is never a good combination. Until I was flipping through the recipe book that came with my newest crock and ran across a recipe for potato onion chowder and thought I have a ton of potatoes and some fresh mushrooms that need to be used so I began testing out ways that I could use the base recipe for the chowder and end up with a creamy potato soup using everyday items found in most kitchens and no cream so I could enjoy it without feeling too terribly guilty!



Chop a small onions, 2 celery stalks and 2 cloves garlic and sauté them in olive oil until the onions are cooked through. As you can see I like the onions and garlic to be a little more on the brown side.
I typically have garlic, celery and onions on hand at all times, but if you don't no worries this will still come out amazing if you leave these out. You can also substitute fennel, carrots, or any other veggies that you like as this just adds a kick of flavor to the soup.

I used a 6 quart smart pot and basically just about filled the bottom with the garlic, onion, and celery mixture. If you like more veggies add them in as I haven't found a way that this can be a mess yet! I must add that I have tried hard to mess this up and have quite a few quarts of super yummy potato soup to vouch for it in my freezer.

I used the mix of gold potatoes I had on hand when I was photographing, but have used a mix of white and reds as well. Just use what you have and aim for about 10-12 small to medium large potatoes.

I make a mixture of larger and smaller chunks of potatoes as I want some to turn to mush and mix into the base and others to remain firmer so there are some chunks in my soup. This is completely my preference, but if you want perfectly smooth soup make all your chunks uniform and on the smaller side. If you are adding fresh mushrooms, slice and add them here as well. I have added up to a pound of sliced mushrooms here without changing anything.

 Once the potatoes are in I open my very messy spice/random kitchen stuff cabinet and wanted to share this picture since I was recently told that my house is always spotless! Hello I have kids...there is always kid stuff everywhere and I am terrible at organization..see pic to right if you need confirmation of that.

Please note that I do not endorse any specific brand of spices or herbs..these are just what is readily available and non budget breaking in my area.

Since I already had the garlic and onion I added the Herb Provence mix..this is not an everyday spice mix I buy but a nice size container under 5 bucks how could I pass and it is primarily Rosemary, Marjoram, and Thyme..and some Sea Salt. If you didn't have any garlic or onion and have some powder feel free to add generous amounts of both here. This is 2 heaping tablespoons of the herb mix and 1 teaspoon of the Sea Salt. When I am not documenting the recipe I shake away until my heart is content then give and extra shake for good measure and that works too!

Once you have your spices added you need to add water until you cover your potatoes. Using the same amount of potatoes that I used it comes to 6 cups of water. This is where you might go awry....make sure the potatoes are covered by the water but don't get too upset if the spices collect on the sides of your crock. I use a wooden spoon and push them down into the water but there is no need to stir at all. Maybe you are a better water pourer than I am and don't make an herb mess on the side and I say woohoo you rock....I aim to get the water in the crock and not on the floor!

 I usually mix up everything at night and put it in the fridge so in the morning there is minimal time needed to get dinner going. So if you have your soup chilling in the fridge put it straight into the base and turn your time to low 10 hours and forget about it while you are working. No stirring or worry needed.....right up my alley.

 When you get home, if you have a stick blender get after the soup with it. If not a blender of food processor also work amazingly well. I used a gift card to get my stick blender at an amazing price online, but I am addicted to buying kitchen gadgets!

 I added 1/2 cup sour cream to the mix to get the creaminess that I crave. Here is where if you have food sensitivities especially to gluten to watch your sour cream to ensure that it is gluten free as not all are gluten free. I know this as a friend has recently had to go gluten free for her daughter's health, so as part of her support net I am trying to get educated.

 Once it's all mixed this is what it is going to look like. It is thick like the potato soup my Grandma made and just as flavorful as I recall.
I do have a confession to make here that at first I was also adding cheese to the soup and mixing it in......oh so good but I ultimately cut out the cheese in the soup to save on a few calories....but I won't tell if you walk on the wild side and add it in!

I, of course, add cheese to the top of the soup once I get it into my bowl, but would be good with anything you like to add to the top.










I hope that this is a super easy soup that can help you through the long winter without breaking the bank or your calorie count if you are counting them. As I mentioned this soup freezes like a dream and is super thick when it is cold but once you reheat it goes back to the same consistency as the day you made it.


For printable recipe visit here.

Thanksgiving is all about stuffed birds....and my family is no different

So maybe Thanksgiving is all about the turkey, but after years of dried out terrible turkey growing up I cannot bring myself to buy one, so if your looking for turkey advice I sadly have very little. My family loves all things bread so stuffing is a requirement for all holiday gatherings if you want to make it through dinner without too many complaints. So this year I set out to infuse the horrific stuffing dish that stuffs our waistlines with some veggies. Please don't get me wrong stuffing is a far cry from a healthy dish, but if your family must have it sneak in some veggies.

 

So I took the requisite bag of processed bread chunks and set it on the counter a few weeks ago for inspiration. Let me tell you while standing at my juicer half awake and seeing the processed chunks taunting me is something that I will not miss. So let’s talk about how I managed to take a dish that I dread watching my family eat no stuff into their faces and make it a little less cringe worthy.

 

Ingredients:

1 bag of prepared herb bread chunks

1 bunch of celery (mine had 8-10 ribs on it)

1 medium yellow onion

3 sprigs of thyme

1 sprig of rosemary

1 bag of fresh cranberries (remove any hard or super soft cranberries)

8-10 sprigs of parsley

2 apples (I used Fuji as they were getting to the end of their usability)

First I chopped the celery, onion, and apples into bite size chunks and placed them into a mixing bowl. I pinched the leaves off parsley sprigs until I had about a cup, add in the rosemary leaves (I don’t use the stalk but pull the leaves off by running my nail against the growth pattern) and rough chop them. Add the chopped parsley and rosemary to the mixing bowl, then work on the sage. My thyme leaves were pretty small so I just added them directly to the bowl after I pulled them off the stalk the same way I pulled the rosemary off the stalk. Then I added the cranberries to the vegetable mix and let the flavors meld. Truth be told I pre-cut the veggies in the morning, added in the cranberries, and stored the mix for several hours in an airtight container to make my dinner preparations that much easier.

 

When it was time to make dinner all I had to do was mix the vegetables mix into the bread crumbs, add 4 tablespoons of melted butter (I use hormone free butter over the fake margarine but I am pretty certain margarine will work as well.) and 5 cups of boiling water to the mix and bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 325 degrees or until the cranberries burst. I cooked this the same time that I heated up the pre-made cinnamon sweet potatoes. Please forgive the awful cell phone pic of the finished stuffing, even my bread loving don't make me touch salad family approved of the additional veggies added in and have asked for it again on Christmas.