Creamy Potato and Carrot Soup

So Justin and I had a long morning playing volleyball in a stake tournament, then hurried by the grocery store to pick up some food for the week (since I have essentially given up on grocery shopping by myself---just too hard and I'm just too busy.  Props to all of you who manage this alone and/or with 2+ kids).  When we came home and I unloaded the groceries and saw the potatoes next to the carrots, I thought, "I bet that would make a delicious soup."  So, at 2:30, starving for lunch, I stumbled upon THIS recipe from My Kitchen Addiction blog, and it looked worth a try!  We had almost all the ingredients, which probably has something to do with the fact that the original recipe comes from a cookbook that I now want, entitled "More With Less Cookbook."  I was happy that I could successfully curb my hunger for the one hour it took to make this. It was very easy, and tastes better with time. Justin gave it 4 out of 5 stars!

So, here's my modified version:

Creamy Carrot and Potato Soup
(Makes 6-8 servings, adapted from More With Less Cookbook)

• 1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced (about 1 cup)
• 4 russet potatoes
• 6 large carrots (about 1 pound)
  (I only had baby carrots so I used like 15 or 20 of those)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried dill (I might do without next time...not a dill lover)
• 6 cups chicken broth (used "Better than Bouillon")
• 1 1/2 cups milk
  (Okay, I fully intended to use milk, but I had some heavy cream leftover that I had to use up, so I put in 3/4 C heavy cream + 3/4 C water)
• 1 tablespoons Dijon mustard (I used regular but I should've used dijon)
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2-3/4 C sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• Kosher salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Hot sauce (Cholula)

 

Step 1: Cook the onion on the stove in a skillet with the oil.
Step 2: Use a shredder to shred the potato and carrot. (Since I ended up blending this anyway, you could probably just dice or chop it really small and not shred them).
Step 3: After the onion has browned, add the shredded potato and carrots. Cook until softened, approximately 15 minutes.
Step 4: Add the thyme, dill, mustard, and a dash of pepper. 
Step 5: Move it all to a large pot and add the 6 cups of broth, let cook for 10 minutes.
Step 6: Add in milk and cheese, turn up the heat for 5 minutes, then turn down to simmer until you are ready to each!
Step 7: Add in salt, pepper, and cholula to taste.
Step 8: Enjoy!

While we were waiting for the soup, Justin prepared a delicious Caesar Salad, which we've been enjoying lately with the discovery of a dressing we like.
The Easy Caesar salad recipe is:

• 2 heads romaine lettuce
• handful spinach
• 2 tomatoes
• carrots
• 1/2 white onion
• shredded mozarella cheese
• crutons
• Ken's Steakhouse creamy Caesar lite