Stick-To-Your-Ribs Dairy Free Potato Soup

So, it's been a while..... 4 months with no new recipes. In that time there were some epic failures - I fed an entire batch of chocolate muffins to my trash can (poor trashcan, it never did anything to me.)

You see, I was trying really hard to create dairy free AND healthy versions of my favorite conventional recipes. There were mysterious concoctions of coconut sugar, date sugar, coconut flour, almond flour, cashew butter, puffed quinoa.... oh my. 

Then I had an epiphany, maybe it's not about making a super healthy version of chocolate cake, because I don't eat chocolate cake every day (and not for lack of trying).  It's ok to have flour, sugar, chocolate and eggs when life calls for chocolate cake - so long as I'm making healthful decisions about other foods on a daily basis. So I cracked open my stash of favorite recipes and dug out a cool weather classic, just in time for the first snow flakes to fly. A creamy, hearty, soul warming potato soup. 

DAIRY FREE POTATO SOUP

Serves 5-6

• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced (red, white or yellow)
• 4 oz diced green chilis (canned)
• 4-6 oz diced roasted red peppers
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp dried cilantro
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 3 cups of peeled diced potatoes (russet or yukon gold)
• 3-4 cups of chicken (or veggie) stock
• 4 oz dairy free cream cheese (such as Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese)
• Optional: Top with bacon, jalapeños and corn tortilla chips. 

In a medium/large pot over medium heat, sauté the diced onion in 2 tbs olive oil until translucent, add the green chilis, roasted red peppers, cumin, cilantro, salt and pepper and sauté just until warmed. Add the potatoes and stock, cover, and heat until boiling. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are just fork tender. Blend together 1/4 of the soup and the dairy free cream cheese. I separate out 1/4 of the soup and the dairy free cream cheese into a bowl and use my immersion blender to blend. If using a conventional blender be certain to use caution. Projectile flaming hot soup decorating you and your kitchen is not pretty. The texture and consistency can be adjusted by blending more or less of the soup mixture and adding more or less dairy free cream cheese. Experiment until you find the texture you love. Also, if you don't love cumin and/or cilantro both can be omitted - you might consider adding some thyme, rosemary or your other favorite spices. 

Overall, this is a pretty quick week night meal. Start to finish it can be prepared in 45 minutes or less depending upon how fast your husband (or wife) can peel potatoes. 

Peace,

Laura