White Cheddar and Chive Potato Soup: Creamy Comfort for Souper (Soup, Salad, & Sammie) Sundays

Before I had my little medical adventure and was out most of the month of January, I received a couple of cookbooks to review. I feel bad that I am just getting around to them  now. One is Everyday Vegetarian: A Delicious Guide to Creating More Than 150 Meatless Dishes by The Editors of Cooking Light. I love Cooking Light recipes as they are generally healthier eating choices, but they have great flavor and I tagged quite a few recipes from the book to make including; Indian Chopped Salad, Fried Egg and Crunchy Breadcrumb Salad, Nor-Cal Veggie Sandwiches with Hazelnut Butter, Avocado-Egg Salad Sandwiches with Pickled Celery, One-Pot Green Curry Stew with Potatoes and Cauliflower, Stir-Fried Chinese Egg Noodles, Mock Cham Noodle Bowl, Brown Rice Bowl with Miso, Poached Egg, and Kale-Radish Slaw, Bulgur-Pepper Patties, Peppered White Bean, Kale, and Egg Stack, Vegetarian Benedicts with Thyme Sabayon, and Super Savory Wild Rice Pilaf.

This week though, I felt in need of soupy comfort and was drawn to the White Cheddar and Chive Potato Soup. Potato Soup is a favorite of mine and they one sounded creamy and delicious. I didn't make a lot of changes to the recipe, just doubling up on the broth for a looser soup and upping the garlic a bit by using my homemade garlic broth.

Cooking Light says, "This luscious creamy potato soup uses just one pan, making it ideal for fast weeknight comfort food and even faster cleanup. We love the look and tang of sharp white cheddar in this soup."

White Cheddar and Chive Potato Soup
Everyday Vegetarian by The Editors of Cooking Light
(Serves 4)

1 Tbsp canola oil
1/3 cup chopped shallots
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3 1/2 cups chopped Yukon Gold potatoes (about 1 lb)
1 3/4 cups 1% low-fat milk
1 1/2 cups organic, low-sodium vegetable broth (I used 3 cups homemade garlic stock)
3/8 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper, or to taste
2 oz sharp white cheddar cheese, shredded (about 1/2 cup)
1/3 cup fat-free sour cream
freshly ground black pepper
minced fresh chives

Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the oil to the pan, swirl to coat. Add the shallots and garlic; saute 1 1/2 minutes or until tender. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly with a whisk.

Add the potatoes, milk, broth, salt, and pepper to the pan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Remove the pan from the heat. Mash the potato mixture with a potato masher to the desired consistency. Stir in the cheese until melted. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the sour cream.

Ladle the soup into each of 4 bowls. Top with the remaining sour cream, the freshly ground black pepper, and the minced chives. 

Nutritional Details: (Serving size; 1 cup of soup, 1 Tbsp sour cream, 1 1/2 tsp chives): Calories 263, Fat 9.6 g, (sat 4.2g, mono 2.5g, poly 1.1g), Protein 11g, Carb 34g, Fiber 3g, Sugars 9g 9est. added sugars 0g), Cholesterol 20mg, Iron 1mg, Sodium 562 mg, Calcium 286 mg

Notes/Results: Oh yeah, this is a yummy soup--just like a soup version of good, slightly cheesy mashed potatoes--the ultimate comfort food. The soup in the cookbook's picture looked quite a bit thicker but I like the creamy, yet still brothy texture I got by adding extra liquid. The white cheddar cheese was present without being too gooey-cheesy and the soup is satisfying and tastes decadent without being too rich. I like the one pan factor and it is pretty quick and easy to make. You could make this into a vegan soup by swapping in non-dairy milk, cheese, and sour cream. I would happily make this soup again and I look forward to trying more recipes from the book.
 

Note: A review copy of Everyday Vegetarian was provided to me by the author and the publisher, Time Inc. Books. I was not compensated for this review and as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.

 
We have two tasty dishes waiting in the Souper Sundays kitchen, let's have a look!

Shaheen of Allotment2Kitchen shared Iranian Pearl Barley Soup (Ashe-Jo Jow) and said, "It looks deceptively plain, but it has so much depth and flavour mostly from the fresh herbs.  As well as barley and chickpeas which are visible, there are lots of greens in it such as spinach, dill and coriander and a homegrown leek which came from my own allotment garden plot.  We both loved  this Iranian Pearl Barley Soup that I will definitely make it again."

 
Here at Kahakai Kitchen I tried Giada's Kale Salsa Verde Bruschetta with Fresh Mozzarella. I made a couple of adjustments to cut some of the oil and sodium and really enjoyed this little open-faced sandwich bites with their colorful appearance and delicious taste. I think even kale-haters would enjoy this one.

 
Thanks to Shaheen for joining me this week at Souper Sundays!

About Souper Sundays:

Souper Sundays is back with a new format of a picture link each week where anyone interested can post their soups, salads, or sandwiches any time during the week and I post a recap of the entries the following week.)

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here. 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on the post you link up to be included.

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (optional).

An InLinkz Link-up

Have a happy, healthy week!