Hello!  Hello!  How was your Thanksgiving weekend?  We were on the move for 4 days straight.  I managed to steer clear from all of the mall madness and put in some serious time antiquing.  More about that later this week…

Now that your Thanksgiving leftovers have ran out, I’ve got another tasty soup recipe for you.  One of my favorite things about creating new recipes is naming them.  Actually I feel this way about most creative projects.  Once something new is produced, I love to step back, evaluate and then brand the package.  With that said, I introduce you to my newest comfort food…Baked Potato Soup.

Can I let you in on a little secret though?  It is not really baked at all.  More like boiled and mashed.  But Baked Potato Soup sounds better.

Start by peeling and washing a couple of pounds of potatoes.  Place them in a large pot of boiling water.

While the potatoes are cooking, caramelize a large chopped onion in a separate pan.

Once the potatoes are soft, drain most of the water and combine with the onions.  Blend with an immersion blend.  Season with salt & pepper.  Garlic is good too if you’d like.  Basically season as you would mashed potatoes.  Don’t stop there though!  We’re making soup, remember?  Now add a cup of stock for each pound of potato.  This will thin it into a nice creamy potato soup base sans any heavy cream or dairy.  Allow it to simmer on low-medium in the stock pot with the lid on.

At this point, you can add in vegetables of your choice like broccoli or asparagus to create a dairy free ‘cream of (fill in the blank) soup’.  I took another approach in order to make this soup more personal and interactive.

Think Baked Potato Soup Bar. 

I chopped and steamed fresh vegetables separately along with shredded cheese.  The options are pretty much endless – carrots, avocado, broccoli, peas, mushrooms and even bacon if you want.  Just don’t forget the cheese!  It will melt right into the base of this dish – the warm baked potato soup.

I served my hearty Baked Potato Soup along with a berry smoothie filled with antioxidants.  Yum!