September Slow-Cooker Challenge Day 1 ~ Healthy Potato Soup

Today started my September Slow-cooker challenge.  I have challenged myself to cook/try out 20 slow cooker meals that I will make Sunday-Thursday.  I am saving Friday and Saturday for eating out or grilling or just doing something different than using the slow-cooker because if I am being honest…it was already really hard to convince my husband to agree to this, so I compromised. J

So to start my challenge, I made Slow-Cooker Skinny Loaded Potato Soup last night for supper, and it was a great start to the month! We have a healthy potato soup recipe that we use often, but my husband actually liked this one better because it was lighter.  I got the recipe from The Cookie Rookie, but I made some of my own changes! One of the biggest changes I made was peeling my carrots with a potato peeler.  The recipe from the website told you to thinly slice the carrots, but I wanted them so thin my kids wouldn’t noticed.  Ha! And they didn’t even notice!

Ingredients

6 large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes

40 ounces of low-sodium chicken broth

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp red pepper (you could do without this is you don’t like spicy)

½ cup peeled carrots (I used a potato peeler)

½ cup sweet onion, diced

1 tsp minced garlic

3/8 tsp chives

3/8 tsp dried basil

3/8 tsp dill

1 ½ cup fat-free half and half

1 ½ cup low fat cheddar cheese

For topping

Low fat sour cream or fat-free Greek Yogurt

Turkey bacon cooked, crumbled

Green onion, thinly sliced

Chives, chopped

Instructions:

Spray the inside of slow cooker with cooking spray and set the temperature to HIGH.

Pour diced potatoes, chicken stock, salt, pepper and red pepper into the slow cooker.

Sauté peeled carrots and diced onions in 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil 3 minutes or until onions are translucent.

Add minced garlic and sauté 30 seconds more.

Add sautéed carrots, onion and garlic to the potato broth mixture.

Cook on HIGH for 2-3 hours or until potatoes have softened.

Using a potato masher, mash part of the cooked vegetables while they are still in the slow cooker. This is where you will need to mash to the consistency you like.  My family likes it a little chunky, so I didn’t do much mashing. 

Add herbs, half-and-half, and cheese. Mix well.

Once cheese has melted, ladle soup into bowls and garnish with toppings of choice.

For a healthy serving, I had ½ cup of soup, 4 slices of turkey bacon, and I also had a side of steamed broccoli because I needed a veggie for the day.  We also had plenty leftover that I was able to freeze some for later!  I hope you enjoy!

If you would like to keep up with my Slow-cooker September challenge, then type in your email on the right hand side of the blog.  I can’t promise they will all turn out as well as the potato soup did but I will share either way!

Much love ~Becky