Quick and Easy Potato Soup

When I first wrote about my new love, my VitaMix blender, and mentioned that my daughter was making herself a batch of potato soup every day after school, I figured it wouldn't be long before I posted the recipe. To tell the truth, it's such a simple one, adapted from the VitaMix cookbook, that I decided to hold it in reserve for a time when I didn't have anything new to post.

Well, that time has come. Lately my cooking muse must be on vacation, so while I'm waiting for her to drag her suntanned bee-hind back home, I've been relying on a lot of old standards (mostly of the Ridiculously Easy variety) to keep us fed. On nights when I just want to clean out the fridge, I do a vegan version of the old "meat and three veg" where the "meat" is a simple bean or tofu dish and one of the three vegetables is a light soup. Last night's meal, for instance, consisted of baked tofu, roasted asparagus, salad, and potato soup—hardly gourmet, but somehow elegant in its simplicity.

I've mentioned before, I'm sure, that I have no compunctions about using the microwave oven to speed up meal prep. Using it to cook the potatoes and the VitaMix to cook the soup as it blends means that this soup is ready in about 12 minutes. On really rushed nights (and is there any other kind?) I can be serving the soup as a first course while the vegetables are roasting in the oven. I usually don't even bother to peel the potatoes because blending completely pulverizes the skin, but including the peel makes the soup a sort of gray-green color, so if you want your soup to be creamy white like in these pictures, you'll need to peel your 'taters. Just let them cool a little so you don't wind up with scorched fingers like I did!



Quick and Easy Potato Soup
(printer-friendly version)

Potatoes can be microwaved, boiled, steamed, or even baked beforehand, but microwaving is quickest.

3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, cooked and peeled, if desired
1/2 small onion
1 cup vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoon rosemary
1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon white pepper (using more will make it spicy)
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 tablespoon raw cashews or 1/2 tbsp. cashew butter (optional)
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 1/2 cups low-fat soymilk or other non-dairy milk

High-Powered Blender Users: Place two of the potatoes along with the remaining ingredients into the blender in the order given. Start machine on low speed and increase to highest setting. Blend for about 4 minutes, until steaming hot. Dice remaining potato and divide it among 4 bowls. Pour the soup over the potatoes and serve hot.


Regular Blender/Stovetop Users: Chop the onion and sauté it until soft in a medium-sized saucepan. Cut the potatoes into cubes and add 2/3 of them to the pan, along with the broth, rosemary, white pepper, and salt. Simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes. Pour into blender along with cashew butter, soymilk, and nutritional yeast. Blend until smooth. Return to pan, add remaining potatoes, and cook, stirring often, over low heat until hot.

Makes 4 servings. Per serving, with cashews: 131 Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (8% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 26g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 306mg Sodium; 2g Fiber. Weight Watchers 2 Points.

Without cashews: Per serving: 119 Calories (kcal); trace Total Fat; (1% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 26g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 305mg Sodium; 2g Fiber. Weight Watchers Core/ 2 Points.