A Productive Day...and a Baked Potato Soup Recipe!

Today was the first day since before Christmas that I have felt productive and motivated.  For the past two weeks, we have just been in survival mode.  Daniel and I are still fighting some congestion and coughing, but finally today I was able to regain a little sense of normalcy.  I crossed several things off my to do list, and I made a real meal for my family for the first time in a long time!

One of my tasks for the day was to start organizing and decluttering the kitchen.  I sorted through several cabinets and found a big pile of pans, bowls, and kitchen stuff for the garage sale pile.  However, before it made it to the garage sale pile, Audrey and Isla discovered it.  They thought this random collection of pans and utensils was the best thing ever!  And so they spread everything out all over the kitchen floor and played for a long time.

I'm trying to use the camera on the iphone and test it out.   It's not quite the same as the DSLR, but it is probably a slight upgrade from my old phone.  Isla looked so cute tonight in her pajamas, carrying around her blankets and ready for bed.  I kept trying to get a picture of her, but she just didn't want to stand still!

For dinner tonight, I made baked potato soup.  We are big fans of this soup, so I thought I would share the recipe with all of you.  I also made these bread machine breadsticks and this crispy edamame.  (Notice the small serving of edamame on my plate...I'm not a fan, but Daniel loves it!).

Ok, so here is the recipe for the soup.  I adapted it from this recipe to make it lower fat and a little healthier.  It is by no means a low fat recipe, but I do think that my version is considerably less in fat and calories than the original.

BAKED POTATO SOUP

8 Russet potatoes, baked, peeled and chopped
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
4 cups lowfat milk
2 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup bacon, crumbled (when feeling lazy, I just buy the bag of real bacon bits)
4 green onions, chopped
8 ounces Cheddar cheese
8 ounces light sour cream

In a large saucepan or stock pot, melt butter over medium heat.  Whisk in flour until smooth and cook about one minute.  Whisk in milk, a little at a time, stirring constantly until thickened.  Stir in chicken broth.

Stir in potatoes, salt, pepper, bacon bits, green onions, and cheese.  Simmer over low heat until thoroughly heated.  Stir in sour cream and heat through.  You can serve it topped with bacon bits, green onions and cheese if you want.