When I got married, my mother-in-law (Jodi’s mom – known as Grandma Lori around here) gave me a very special gift. She had each of my relatives and close friends fill out a recipe card or two of their favorite, most trusted recipes. I LOVE that little box of recipe cards because it contains a lot of family favorites that my husband and I both grew up loving from our aunts, grandparents etc. One of my go-to recipes out of that box has been my Aunt Debbie’s Vegetable Cheese Chowder (We call it Creamy Potato Soup). Over the years I’ve figured out a way to incorporate my food storage into this soup AND make it virtually fat free!. Through some creative cooking techniques (removing the flour, milk, and butter) I can feel good about eating this more often. I’ll share both versions with you here today!

CREAMY POTATO SOUP (Original)

Ingredients:
4 cups cubed potatoes
2 cups diced carrots
2 cups diced celery
1/2 cup minced onions
2 t salt
4 cups water
10 oz frozen broccoli (or 2 cups fresh)
3 T chicken bouillon
3 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 T dry mustard
1 lb shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
In large pot, place potatoes, carrots, celery & onions (also broccoli if fresh). Add water + salt. Cook about 20 mins until tender. Add broccoli (if frozen), chicken base & milk. Simmer 5 mins.

In saucepan melt butter, add flour and mustard. Stir to make sauce. Add to soup and stir until thick. Add cheese, stirring until melted. Keep hot, but do not boil.

CREAMY POTATO SOUP (Fat free)

Ingredients:
4 cups cubed potatoes
1/2 cup minced onions (or equivalent in freeze dried onion – about 1/4 c.)
2 t salt
3 T chicken bouillon
2 cups diced carrots (or equivalent in dehydrated carrots – about 1 c.)
2 cups diced celery (or equivalent in freeze dried celery – about 1 c.)
10 oz frozen broccoli (or equivalent in freeze dried broccoli – about 1 c.)
1 T dry mustard
4 T white bean flour mixed with 3/4 c. water (any white bean ground in your Wondermill will work)
Cheddar cheese for topping – if you’re feeling naughty!

Directions:
In one pot I cover the potatoes and onions with water, and add the chicken bouillon and salt. In a different pot (there’s a reason for the 2 pots), I put all the carrots, celery, and broccoli together with very little water and start cooking about 5 mins after I start cooking the potatoes. If I am using freeze dried veggies, I add a little more water, and let them cook and hydrate at the time (meaning I don’t add water and get them hydrated ahead of time).

Once the potatoes are done cooking and are soft and tender, I take a masher, and very LIGHTLY mash them. I mash them enough that there are still quite a few chunks left, but it’s slightly creamy. This is one of the ways I get the creaminess of the soup without the flour, butter and milk! After the potatoes are slightly mashed, I add the carrots, celery and broccoli WITH it’s water. A lot of the nutrients, get into that water so I want to keep it. That’s why I cooked it in the first place with very little water.

At this point it should be a little on the liquidy side, and that’s when I add the white bean flour/water mixture to get the rest of the creaminess without the flour, butter, and milk. This will thicken the soup right up. Make sure you leave it cooking (boiling) for at least 3 minutes to get the beans all the way cooked. Add the dry mustard here too. Here’s a secret, I never have that so I usually put about 1/2 Tablespoon of real mustard, not knowing if that really has any likening to mustard seed, but it flavors it a tiny bit so I go with it.

Since the soup is still fat free at this point, I’ll usually top it with a little cheddar cheese because I deserve it (freeze-dried cheese would work for this too).

So there you have it. Soup that uses freeze dried veggies and white bean flour. I ALWAYS use freeze dried onion, ALMOST ALWAYS use freeze dried broccoli, and often use freeze dried carrots, and celery if I don’t have any on hand. Next up, I’ll try it with freeze dried or dehydrated potatoes and really be ambitious!

-Jodi Weiss Schroeder
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net