Ultimate Potato Soup

It's the time of year to eat more soup.  Soup warms you up when you've been outside shoveling snow and it helps to heal those winter colds.  I love to eat soup year round, but I rarely eat soup from a can because those canned soups normally contain the most sodium of any food.  Even the reduced sodium varieties contain over 500 mg per serving.  That is about 1/3 of my sodium intake for the day, so I'd prefer not to use it on average tasting soup.

My family loves potatoes; while I don't love them, I do eat them because they are rich in heart healthy potassium.  I use a potato soup recipe that is low in sodium and fat.  Somehow even without all the sodium and fat, the recipe still manages to be delicious.  I have to say that the recipe is rather time consuming; it's difficult to make the soup while making dinner.  The easiest way to serve it with dinner is to prepare it the night before and leave it in the refrigerator overnight.  Simply reheat it with dinner.  Please note that potato soup does not freeze well.

Here is the recipe with notes:

ULTIMATE POTATO SOUP

Ingredients:
4 potatoes, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 cups low sodium chicken broth  (I use Herb-ox sodium free instant broth)
2 cups half & half / milk (I usually use skim milk)
2 cups water
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons flour
2 cubes chicken bouillon (I also use Herb-ox sodium free cubes)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Preparation:
In a large pot, bring potatoes, celery, and onion to a boil in 3 cups of broth.  Cook about 15 minutes, until potatoes are tender. 

Drain and reserve liquid.  Combine reserved liquid and half & half in large pot over medium heat.  In small bowl, combine melted butter and flour then stir into half & half mixture until blended. 

Add bouillon cubes and stir until thickened.  Stir in reserved vegetables, water (if you like a thicker soup, add less water or none at all), pepper and garlic powder.  Heat through and serve.  If desired, garnish with bacon bits.*  Yield 6 servings.

*Note: I use Tastefully Simple Bacon Bacon with less fat and sodium than real bacon bits.