Harvest Vegetable Soup

Ok, right off the top - if you have read our "About Us" section - you know.....we do NOT eat a lot of soups.  I used to make soup - I used to feel the kids soup, but, somewhere along the line, I kinda stopped.  And now, there seems to be a general consensus that "soup is yukky".....really?  "Soup?" - ANY kind of soup?  How can that be??  Well, it's Fall.  And Fall just begs for soup!  And this one - this one sounds YUMMY!  Found it on Make It Do, first time I went to her blog I knew I would like her - look at those cute lemons!  I love everything lemon, including pictures!!  This soup has a little "secret ingredient" - and it's one of my favorite things to add to my food!

Harvest Vegetable Soup (photo courtesy of Make It Do)

Recipe (with my adaptations!):

Harvest Vegetable Soup

1 medium onion, chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 cups chicken stock (you can use vegetable stock if you prefer to keep it vegetarian)

5 – 6 medium red potatoes, cubed

vegetables of choice (she recommends around 5- 6 total cups of veggies - I used extra potatoes and added some carrots and broccoli, baby steps with those kids, baby steps!)

1/2 cube of butter (1/4 cup)

1/2 cup of flour

4 cups milk

4 – 8 ounces cream cheese (um, yeah - TOTALLY used the full 8oz!)

2 cups cheddar cheese

salt and pepper to taste

1 shot of Tabasco (optional) (I forgot about this, would typically try it, but just forgot....)

 

In a large stock pot, pour in 1 tablespoon of olive oil and saute onion until translucent.  Pour in chicken stock and chopped potatoes.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Cover with a lid.

Prepare remaining vegetables into bite sized pieces.  In a large pan, saute vegetables until starting to soften and golden.  Remove to a plate and set aside.  Add butter and allow to melt.  Slowly whisk in the flour and allow to cook for 1 minute while stirring to make a roux.  Whisk in the milk and allow to thicken.

Pour thickened milk into the stock pot with stock.  Add the remaining vegetables.  Add cream cheese by pinching into smaller pieces.  Add grated cheddar cheese.  Allow cheeses to melt.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve immediately.

(If you do make this soup ahead, don’t cook it all day.  You don’t want overcooked vegetables.  Refrigerate and heat before serving.  You may need to add some chicken stock to get a good consistency.)

Approval Level:
Yay!  A soup that almost all of them actually admitted was GOOD!  You have NO idea how big that is!  "I" really liked it, but hey, I'm totally a cream soup girl!  Lynn loved loved it, but he likes soup....all of the kids ate it, and, surprisingly my "Good Eater" was the one having "issues" with it - apparently it was a texture thing - he liked the flavor, but not so much the texture, odd.....so - everyone ate this, those of us who don't "hate soup" as a category (?!?!!) really liked it....with the ingredients I used it was basically a glorified cheesy potato soup, with a little bit of other veggies to add in some color....the addition of the cream cheese really kicked it up a level for me! Yummy - try it!