Potato Cheddar Soup with Broccoli and Cauliflower

No more pics for a while... :( My digital camera is fried! Not good with a new little one due soon. We will have to invest in a new one soon - it was only about a year old, but with activity and little ones it had been dropped several times. It took us a while to get the pics that I used in the last post so I figured we were on the way out with it. It just was not responding right. I was able to get one more picture of Joseph before the screen went completely black and now the shutter wont even shut.

Anyway...

I made some soup that uses onions, potatoes, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower tonight! Very easy and yummy and of course GF! Only one dish required to make it so easy clean up too. Not dairy free, but could easily be modified to be so.


Ingredients:
2 onions sliced (I thinly sliced to help with cooking)
Butter, calls for about 2 TBSP (but I used more)
6 cloves garlic, minced
about 5 cups chicken stock/broth (Make sure it is a GF one if you are on GF diet!)
about 2 1/2 pounds potatoes, (wash first) peeled and quartered (again I did smaller to help reducing cooking time) - reserve peels *
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
Broccoli (I used 2 crowns), discard tough stems
Cauliflower (used about 1/2 a head), separated into flowerets
3/4 c milk
3/4 c whipping cream
1 tsp salt
Shredded Cheddar Cheese (calls for 1 c, but more is better with my family - ended up using about 2 1/2 c)
pepper to taste (omitted for my family)

Directions:
* In dutch oven or stock pot, cook onions in hot butter until soft and golden brown.
* Add garlic and continue cooking.
* Add chicken stock, potatoes, and carrots.
* Bring to boil and reduce heat.
* Cover and let simmer until fork tender (about one hour).
* Add broccoli and cauliflower.
* Cover and simmer about 1 hour.
* Lightly puree with potato masher until coarsely mixed.
* Add milk, cream, salt and pepper (if desired).
* Blend (if desired) with immersible mixer and add water, if needed, to desired consistency.
* Stir in cheese.

I used my immersible mixer for the first time with this and will obviously need some practice. I used it a little too well and it is completely smooth. Still very good, but some chunks would be nice too.

* With the reserved potato peels, rub in vegetable oil (about 2 TBSP) and bake at 400 for about 15 minutes, until crisp. Use as a topping on the soup. :) This way you are not loosing the nutritional value of the skins - where most of the nutrition in potatoes is!

Would probably also be good with a little bacon bits or cheese as topping. If GF, be careful using store-bought bacon bits.