Potato Soup

I usually visit  family on Thursday nights for dinner and Gray's Anatomy.  They may not be  vegetarian, but we do veg, catching up on hours of TV in streaming video, projected onto a wall.  We're cheap. We pretend we're at the movies,  except we get to  pause to pee or make brownies, so it's better than the movies.  Gray's is the only thing we watch in real time. I pity the fool who tries to interrupt that by peeing, coming to the door etc.

I wanted to make a tradition of bringing Thursday night dinner. One that supports my new lifestyle, but doesn't leave them racing to Foster's for burgers during commercial breaks.  My friend, Monica, posted a rave review of a recipe that landed in my Facebook stream, so I tweaked it, and brought it over last Thursday.

It had been a stressful couple of sleepless work days and I almost came empty handed. But I was able to come home at lunch, get everything prepped, cleaned up & into the crock in 10 minutes flat.  It cooked for 4 hours.  When I got home,  I tossed in the cheese chunks, loaded the crock into the car, and headed over.  There, I used an immersion blender to make the soup all smooth and creamy.

Winner, Loser or Meh 

This is a BIG recipe (17 servings), so I thought I could bring home the leftovers and have lunch for the next week. Boy was I wrong!   When I left, there was nothing left . . . nada! This was such a hit, that emaciated teenagers and their emaciated friends came out of the woodwork and chowed down. The cost of the meal: 7 bucks.  What's not to love?

The Recipe 

Use a 6 quart crock pot

Ingredients:

• 5 pounds potatoes, peeled, cut into large chunks
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (it actually needed maybe 4 more)
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt (it needed another teaspoon)
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 8 cups vegetable stock (I used boxed)
  
• 16 ounces Neufchatel cheese

• Garnish: shredded sharp cheddar cheese, chives or green onions, faux bacon bits (optional)

Toss everything into the crock except the cheese and garnish.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4.  The potatoes should be fork-tender. Cut up the cheese into blocks and use an immersion blender to puree the soup.  Put the garnish on the side.