Potato Soup

During the holiday season, my mom and I went with a good friend and her mom to a Holiday Galleria at Ag Hall, where there were lots of vendors set up trying to sell holiday items and lots of great finger foods to try! We stopped by the Pampered Chef table...where I found a great garlic press that comes with its own removable cleaner, and my parents got me for Christmas!

Oops, sidetracked...they passed out a couple of recipes, one of which was for "Loaded Baked Potato Chowder" Now of course their recipes call for using a bunch of their gadgets, of which I have none, so I used my own gadgets and methods and this soup was excellent!

I used low fat cream cheese, skim milk, and that healthier version of plant margarine stuff (whatever that is...), so it changed the nutritionals quite significantly. It also was designed to be a microwave recipe (click the link for the original!) but I wanted stovetop. So, here's the way I made it:

Loaded Baked Potato Chowder

(although I am pretty sure I didn't make it loaded...the instructions suggest bacon bits, onions, more cheese, etc. I topped with sliced green onions!)
from Pampered Chef
Ingredients
3 baking potatoes large (about 2 1/2 pounds)
3 1/2 cups skim milk, divided
4 ounces 1/3 less fat (Neufchatel) cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons margarine/butter/something like that
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


Directions
Put a pot of water on to boil.
Meanwhile, peel and chop potatoes, then cook until tender.
While the potatoes cook, soften the cream cheese
After the potatoes are cooked, mash them coarsely with 1/2 cup of the milk. Return to low heat.
To the cream cheese, whisk in the rest of the milk until the mixture is smooth, then add to potatoes. Add the butter to pot also.
Heat thoroughly. It took a while for this step for me because I also wanted it to thicken up, which takes longer with skim milk.
Garnish however you like. I loved it with steamed broccoli! I mixed in the broccoli and it was so good!
This tasted even better heated up for lunch the next day as it was much thicker. I ate it all before I got a picture in!

Makes 6 servings, with about 250 cals per serving.