Skinnytaste Baked Potato Soup

Not long ago I discovered the website Skinnytaste from my friend Tracy at My Best Beauty Buys.  I was so excited because Gina the creator and chef behind Skinnytaste takes full fat dishes and puts her spin on them to make them healthy while keeping them flavorful and tasty.  There are so many recipes I want to try from her site, but so far I've only tried this one...Baked Potato Soup.

I picked a soup because this past weekend in VA it was SO cold.  Cold and rainy days are perfect for something hot and comforting.  And well, I just love soup.  I eat it all year long even when it's 100 degrees out and everyone is making fun of me. :-)  But since I am trying to eat better I chose this to be the perfect time to try one of Gina's creations.

Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients List:

2 russet potatoes, washed and dried
1 small head of cauliflower, stem removed cut into florets (I only used 3/4 of the head below)
1 1/2 cups fat free chicken broth
1 1/2 cups 1% reduced-fat milk
salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1/2 cup light sour cream
10 tbsp reduced-fat shredded sharp cheddar cheese
6 tbsp chopped chives, divided
3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled -- you can use turkey bacon if you prefer (I used about 5 slices since my husband was going to eat this too)

Pierce potatoes with a fork (pierced approx. 4 times on each side); microwave on high for 5 minutes, then turn over and microwave another 3 to 5 minutes, until tender.  You can also bake your potatoes in the oven at  400° for 1 hour or until tender. Cool.  Peel potatoes.  I actually peeled while the potatoes were still pretty warm, so while my fingers hurt a little the skin came right off with a butter knife.

Meanwhile, steam cauliflower with water in a large covered pot until tender.  I had never steamed veggies in a pot before (I usually saute or buy the bags that steam in the microwave).  But I had a steaming pot and just filled it so that the water was right beneath the steam pot.  Steaming only took about 10 minutes.  Drain and return to pot.

On medium heat, add chicken broth, milk, potatoes and bring to a boil.  Gina's directions say to use an immersion blender to puree until smooth.  Now I don't own an immersion blender, so I thought I could just use a normal mixer on low.  This is where it got fun.  Soup splattered everywhere!  Maybe I'm a bad mixer...who knows?  I mixed for a minute and then used a spatula to mash some of the lumps that were the cauliflower and the potatoes.  Then I had my husband hold a kitchen towel around the pot while I used the mixer for just a little bit longer.  It was a bonding experience :-)  Add sour cream, half the chives, salt and pepper and cook on low another 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

See all of the splatter...it also got on me, my stove and wall! Fun! :-)

Remove from heat.  Serve 1 cup of soup into each bowl.  Top each serving with 2 tbsp cheese, remaining chives, and bacon. We actually didn't measure out the cheese, but don't think we went too crazy.

Hope you enjoyed this healthy take on a comfort food favorite!  My husband gave this a a thumps up and says that it is definitely a make again recipe.  I thought it was good, but had to get used to the fact that it wasn't a "traditional" potato soup and that I was eating cauliflower...oh did I mention that I don't like cauliflower?  So happy I tried this and I can't wait to make some more Skinnytaste creations!


What do you guys think?  Would you try this?  What have you been cooking lately?


P.S.  We were recently introduced to an awesome website called All Women Stalk (you will see that we added them to our Blogs We Love list).  They are an amazing source for all of your needs from beauty, fashion, travel, food, health and much more.  They even mentioned us here.  I found a post where they have compiled 7 Low-Cal Soups so I thought I'd share with you guys.  Click here to see for yourself.


Jayme