Learning to Cook – Home-Style Potato Soup

From the Betty Crockers Basics cookbook comes this easy, fast, and quite delicious soup.  And did I mention that it’s low fat and low calorie?*

First, you’ll need your ingredients which include the following:

Specifically, you will need:

• 3 medium potatoes (about 1 lb.)
• 1 can (14 1/2 oz.) ready-to-serve chicken broth
• 2 medium green onions with tops
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

STEP 1:

Peel the potatoes then cut them into large chunks

STEP 2:

Heat the chicken broth and the potatoes in a pan (about 3 qt. pan) until the broth is boiling. 

STEP 3:

Once the broth has started boiling, reduce the heat and bring it to a low boil.  Cover and cook for about 15 minutes until potatoes are tender.  Be sure to stir occasionally so they don’t stick to the pan.

STEP 4:

While the potatoes are cooking, you can cut your green onions.  Peel and cut the heads of the onions in small pieces until you reach the stringy, leafy part where you’ll want to stop. 

STEP 5:

Remove your potatoes from the heat but don’t drain the broth.  Start to break up the pieces either with a potato masher or a fork, but be sure you don’t mash too much as you still want the potatoes to be in small pieces.

STEP 6:

Stir in the milk, salt, pepper, thyme and onions while keeping the soup over medium heat.  Do not let it come to a boil.

Now, to make my soup truly yummy, I added a couple of things:

• More salt – the 1/8 of a teaspoon just wasn’t doing it for me so I added salt to taste.
• Cheese – the recipe suggests a cup and a half, since we want to be healthy, I added 1 cup of 2% sharp cheddar cheese.
• Bacon – The recipe didn’t call for it, but what is potato soup with out bacon?  I used lean turkey bacon (45 calories a slice) that added good flavor without too many extra calories.

And the end result?  This cheesy, creamy, yummy potato soup.

Oh – and one satisfied husband who went back for seconds!

*Nutrional Information (cheese and/or bacon not included):

Calories – 110 (from fat 20), Fat 2 g (Saturated 7 g), Cholesterol – 5 g, Sodium – 510 mg, Carbohydrate – 19g, Dietary Fiber 1g, Protein 5g