Baked Potato Cauliflower Soup

Now that the winter is in full effect, we often find ourselves craving comfort foods. I know I do! I love a good hearty soup. That’s usually my go to comfort food. The thing is, we must be careful with certain hearty soups. Some can be rather fattening.

One of my favorite soups is a baked potato soup. OMG so delicious! But it too, can be high on the calorie scale. However, I have a solution!

I took one of my favorite baked potato soup recipes and made a few adjustments, to make it under 250 calories per serving! Check it out!

A serving would be about 1-1/2 cups (235 calories with turkey bacon 250 with maple bacon)

Baked Potato Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients:

5 slices Turkey bacon ( I used maple bacon for mine)

3 tablespoons bacon grease, coconut oil or olive oil

1 cup diced Vadalia onion

½ head of cauliflower, cut into florets

1tbs of olive oil

5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth

2 cups skim milk

1.5 pounds Yukon gold or red potatoes, diced

1 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste

1/2 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper

1/4 shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese (For Garnish)

Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add bacon and cooked until crispy. While bacon is cooking, in a separate pan, add the table spoon of olive oil and 1/2tsp of minced garlic a dash of salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute, add cauliflower florets. Sauté for approximately 3 minutes. When bacon is cooked, transfer the bacon to a separate plate, reserve about 3 tablespoons of bacon grease in the pot. Add onion and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until translucent. Stir in the garlic and sauté for an extra minute. Stir the flour into the mixture and sauté for an additional 1 minute to cook the flour, stirring occasionally. Then stir in the broth mix well, then the milk. Then add potatoes and cauliflower.

Cook until a simmer right before a boil. Then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft, stir occasionally to prevent soup from sticking and burning at the bottom.

Once the potatoes are soft, split the soup in half and with an immersion blender or blender puree and add back to the pot. Taste and season with extra salt and pepper, if needed.

Take the cooked bacon and crush or dice it. Garnish with bacon and 2 pinches of cheddar cheese. Can be refrigerated for 2- 3 days.

#HealthyEating #2019 #WeightLoss #Recipes #Potatoes #Soup #ComfortFood