Healthier Potato Soup

Even though it's spring, it's still a little chilly and feels like soup weather. Since I have 2 pounds of baby potatoes left over from a giant bag I bought at Costco and I've made enough roasted potatoes lately, potato soup it is! I didn't want to make it the traditional way with lots of cream and butter (and bacon!); Tesha shared a healthy potato soup (click here for that post) but it's made in the crock pot and I wanted to eat the soup quicker than that - hers also uses light cream cheese and I don't have any - this soup needed to be made from whatever I could scrounge in the fridge, be on the healthy side, and be done in a short amount of time. So I winged it, and got lucky - this turned out so good! So good that Dave even had it for lunch and he isn't a big potato lover. And the house smells yummy, which is a bonus.

I know I said I wanted healthy, and the above picture might not look it - but I only garnished with a tiny bit of shredded cheese, small spoonful of sour cream, and sprinkled on a bit of bacon. It's not nearly as much as it looks like!

POTATO SOUP

• 2 pounds baby potatoes (mine are a mix of different colors), diced
• 1 cup baby carrots, chopped
• 1/4 cup onion, finely diced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• chicken broth or stock (enough to cover the potatoes)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups milk (I used 1 cup whole milk, 1 cup skim milk)
• pinch of dill weed (I stole that idea from Tesha's recipe)
• 1 teaspoon Emeril's Essence seasoning (it's a creole spice blend; you could use any type of chili or pepper seasoning, or omit all together), to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil and butter in a pot on the stove (I used my favorite enameled cast iron dutch oven - today's happy moment is definitely that pot), saute onion for a couple minutes until translucent. Add the carrots for another 2-3 minutes, then add the potatoes and mix everything together. Cover the veggies with chicken broth, if you don't have enough broth just add water. Bring to a gentle boil and cook until the potatoes are tender. Turn heat off. In a bowl, whisk together 1/4 flour and 2 cups milk - incorporate the milk slowly into the flour to avoid lumps. Stir the milk mixture into the cooked veggies and broth. Turn the stove back on low, cook for a few minutes stirring frequently until the mixture is thickened and hot. Add seasonings, adjust to taste - if the soup is a little bland just increase the amount of creole seasoning and salt/pepper. If it's too thick stir in more broth or water.

note the cool bowl cozy - we really do use them every day!