a lot like chow-dah

Scrumptious Cupcakes gave us a great cookbook for Christmas called Healthy Cooking for Two. Last night we tried our first recipe and liked it enough that I deem it share-able.

Baked Potato Soup with Broccoli & Cheddar

Ingredients:
3 baked russet potatoes
3 cups 1% lowfat milk
2 cups chopped broccoli, cooked
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the potatoes into chunks and combine them with the milk in a blender. Process the mixture until smooth. Add the broccoli and process, pulsing the motor on and off, until the broccoli is coarsely pureed. You should still be able to see tiny broccoli buds.

Transfer the mixture to a heavy 2-quart saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove the soup from the heat, then stir in the cheddar, salt and pepper. Serve hot.

We made a few minor, yet I’m sure very healthy, adjustments. First, we reserved one potato and cut it into very small cubes. Then we cooked five pieces of bacon. We crumbled 3 pieces into the soup at the same time we were added the cheese. We then cooked the reserved cubed potato in the bacon grease (I know. Healthy.) and we added them to the soup. The remaining bacon we crumbled over our soup in our individual bowls for visual appeal, and, well, more bacon. Yum. This was a very quick, very easy recipe. We will definitely be making it again. Oh, and we found this made three large portions. By the way, the soup was good before we added the bacon, so don't feel like you have to add that in order to try the recipe.

Oh, also, the cookbook recommended this great way to bake potatoes. Preheat oven to 400. Wash potatoes and place in microwave oven on high power for 6 minutes. Transfer the potatoes to a baking sheet and bake them in the preheated over for 15 minutes, or until they are tender when pierced with a fork. They end up with crunchy skins and fluffy innards in a fraction of the time it would normally take to bake them.