Soup!!!

We were supposed to have our monthly fellowship dinner at church last week, but ended up not going because of the weather. It was going to be soup and salad, so I did make a batch of soup Saturday, which has since been eaten, frozen, and shared. The original recipe appeared in "Cooking with Paula Deen" magazine, the January/February 2008 edition, on page 54.

Jane's Potato Soup (6-8 servings)

30 oz bag of frozen hash brown potatoes
3 each 42 oz cans of chicken broth
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
8 oz package of cream cheese
garnish: minced green onion

In a 6 qt. slow cooker, combine potatoes, broth, soup, onions, and pepper. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours. Stir in cream cheese: cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until combined. Garnish with green onions if desired.

Mom cooked the above version and it was very good.

My "souped up" version: (using ingredients I had on hand)

bag (28 oz?) frozen Ore-Ida potatoes O'Brien (already has chopped onions & peppers)
42 oz boiling water with a tbsp or so of chicken soup base
1 can cream of celery soup
chopped cooked turkey (2-4 handfuls)
1 bag frozen soup vegetables
cream cheese

Same cooking method as above.

This version was pronounced delicious by Little Man's Father and his aunt & uncle.

My lower carb version: (made last night to use up the rest of the turkey)

Cauli-rice*
42 oz boiling water with a tbsp or so of chicken soup base
chopped cooked turkey
1 bag frozen soup vegetables
cream cheese

Same slow cooker cooking method.

*I had a 1 qt container of uncooked cauli-rice in my freezer. You make cauli-rice by putting fresh, raw cauliflower through the grating blade of a food processor. It's great to do when your kitchen needs cleaning because it shoots cauliflower everywhere, and by the time you've cleaned up the mess, your kitchen has been totally wiped down! If I'm going to bother making it, I do a whole head and freeze some of the results for future use.

I looked around for a low carb, gluten free substitute for canned cream soup, but they all looked way too labor intensive, so I just left it out. The end result was still creamy and tasty. The frozen vegetables included corn and carrots, so for an even lower carb version, I think I'll try broccoli or green beans next time. When the soup is cooking you can smell the cauliflower, but you really can't taste it in the end result. It just adds body to the soup.