Easy Potato Soup (Gluten-free, vegetarian option, 6 Ingredients!)

My mom is my best food critic and lover. Sometimes we can't agree on food, however. This is one of those days. I love my potato soup full of cheese. I want it to be stringy with melted cheese with every bite. She does not. Unfortunately, besides just adding tons of heavy cream, I wasn't sure how to make it really creamy without the cheese. I just dump in a lot. And there you go - voila! Tasty and thick wonderful potato soup. This weekend we tried to figure out a good non-cheesey but creamy potato soup. I think, after putting together a few ideas from different recipes we were browsing through, we have found a winner! We both agreed the soup was good. And I settled with some cheese and bacon on top of mine to still make it the way I like it. Best of all? Incredibly easy. This could easily be adapted for vegetarians, as well. No garlic, no flour, gluten-free. And all around awesome.




Ingredients:

10-12 potatoes
Chicken Broth (8 cups or so)
1 1/2 packages cream cheese
Onion
salt
pepper
bacon (for topping, if desired)
cheese (for topping, if desired)

Other Utensils:

Peeler
Knife
Large pot
Potato masher thingamabob
Empty stomach with which to enjoy all the tasty treats


Directions:

Peel and dice potatoes. Big chunks are totally acceptable.

Cut the onion into large chunks and toss into the pot.

Cover potatoes and onion with chicken broth (I use a lot, for many leftovers and because I usually put mine over bread which thickens it. You decide, after they boil, if you'd like less or more juice and drain or add, easy peasy.)

Bring to a boil.

Turn to low heat.

Add salt and pepper for taste (Remember it is a large pot of soup, so you may need more)

Let potatoes turn tender and then use potato masher for thickening. Mash as few or as many as you want. Don't worry about doing it in a pretty or uniform way. You're just going to be enjoying how tasty it is. I don't mash much because the potatoes are so soft and they're falling apart by now, anyway. But the mixture of chunks and creamy soup is perfect. So you may want to mash just a bit. You can't screw this up, so do whatever you think, at this point! It's still going to taste wonderful. 

Here's where it gets weird. Toss in the cream cheese. Mine didn't always melt totally when I tried this, so you may want to let it get to room temperature. And maybe cut it up. I didn't and I had to scoop some chunks out because I wasn't ready to bite into pieces of cream cheese. Heh.

Let the cream cheese melt, stirring from time to time. When it melts completely, turn the pot off, leave the lid on and move aside until ready to eat.

Pour into a bowl and seriously get ready to be overfull in no time.

Note: This had tons of leftovers. I froze over half of what I made. But I'm excited to eat it again. Also I used less cream cheese than I reccommended for you to use, here. And it wasn't thick enough for my mother's liking (and that's what we were going for) If that happens to you, too? We fixed it easily by throwing some of the bread we had heated up onto the bottom of the bowl and pouring the soup over the top. Perfect. Thick, chunky, tasty. And soft potato soup soaked bread to eat at the end of the bowl? One of the best "mistakes" you can make in a kitchen setting if you ask me. Next time we'll just use more cream cheese, however.

I topped mine with the bacon and cheese pieces. If you're looking for a vegatarian option, use veggie broth instead and omit the bacon. And without the flour rue that many soups call for - this also makes a great gluten-free option, too. (I use homemade chicken brothe, more often - but Swanson's is gluten free as well!)

Easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (No Nuts, No Flour!)

This is, without a doubt, one of the easiest recipes I have ever found. I keep adding to it and trying it different ways. And they're always fabulous.

I first made these, years ago, for a special little girl in my life with Celiac Disease. It's so hard to find good treats for them. And it's hard enough when you're an adult - but to be a child and not have a decent cookie? Ridiculous. So we tried everything. This was one that stuck and we still make today. Only now we add chocolate chips, because - why not?!

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Other Utensils:

Large bowl
Spoon
Cookie sheet
Cooling Racks


Directions:

Preheat oven to: 350 degrees.

In large bowl, combine the sugar and peanut butter until well mixed. Add the egg. Stir until combined completely. Fold in chocolate chips.

(I would use mini-chips, only I never have them. So I usually take almost 1/2 cup of large chips and throw them into my food processor to create a small - albeit not well formed and pretty - chocolate piece. You could use the normal sized chips, as well. I just find that they're a bit large for the small cookies I prefer to make mine into and the small pieces fit better and melt a tad better). 

Drop the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet and press down slightly. I make my cookies almost bite-sized. So I usually get at least 20 cookies from this recipe.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. Let cookies sit for 5 minutes (this is important! moving them too soon is not only difficult, but messy as they will crumble) and then transfer to a wire cooking rack to cool.


Most importantly: ENJOY!

Variations:
These are great without the chocolate chips.
These are also just as great with Splenda as a substitute for sugar.