Grain-Free Crock Pot Baked Potato Soup Recipe

Welcome to the November edition of the Simply Living Blog Carnival - Enjoyment co-hosted by Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children and Laura at Authentic Parenting!

This month, we write about what food and how we simplify things related to it in our lives. Please check out the links to posts by our other participants at the end of this post.

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Using a crock pot greatly simplifies meal-prep for me, so I end up utilizing mine several times per week. In fact, I have two slow cookers (in different sizes) so I can prepare a main dish and a side dish in tandem. If you don't have a crock pot, I highly recommend getting one! Amazon is a great place to look for deals on new ones, but I've also had great success with finding them at garage sales and thrift stores, too.

Loaded baked potato soup is probably my family's favorite meal when the weather gets colder. It totally satisfies the need for comfort food, and it's chock-full of protein to keep us going as the days grow darker.

When I eliminated gluten from my diet a few years ago, I set to work creating new recipes that didn't use wheat flour. As anyone who has looked at a soup label can tell you, soup is one of the many places wheat is used where it is not at all necessary. Initially I replaced all wheat flour in recipes with a gluten-free all-purpose flour mix, but I realized quickly that when you're already using starchy foods (such as potatoes or beans) in a recipe, utilizing them for thickening is much simpler. It also cuts down on the number of ingredients in the dish, which helps to make it more allergy-friendly. This potato soup recipe simply uses a bit of the potato soup base (pureed) to provide the thick, creamy texture we desire in cream soups.

I used to make this soup on the stove but I needed to cut down on the time I spent cooking, so I adapted my original recipe to work in the slow cooker. It still has to be finished by making the cheese portion on the stove top, but I find that's still much easier than standing and stirring for long periods of time. Plus, I can just throw all the soup veggies in the crock pot in the morning, and only spend half an hour (or less) finishing the soup before dinnertime!

Ingredients

3-4 pounds of red or yellow potatoes, washed and cubed (Leave the skins on!)
4 cups chicken stock
2 leeks, quartered lengthwise, chopped into ½" segments
1 large onion, cubed
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
A dash of cayenne pepper (optional)
2 Tablespoons dried chopped rosemary
2½ cups milk
1 (8oz) package cream cheese
1 cup shredded colby jack cheese
1 pound of bacon, chopped into bits, baked at 400°F until cooked through (about 30 minutes) We keep a bag of pre-cooked bacon bits in the freezer for ease of adding to recipes like this one.
A handful of chives, diced (optional)

Equipment

7 Quart (or larger) slow cooker
immersion blender

Directions

• Put the chicken stock, potatoes, leeks, onion, garlic, pepper, cayenne and rosemary in the crock pot on Low.
• Cook for 6-8 hours, then turn off the heat.
• Remove 1-1½ cups of the cooked soup mixture and blend with immersion blender. (If you don't have one, you can use a regular blender—just be careful not to burn yourself!)
• Pour blended potato soup base and milk into large cast iron skillet (or a saucepan, if you don't have one) heated on low.
• Cook while stirring until well mixed, then add cream cheese and shredded cheese. Cook and stir until everything is melted.
• Use the immersion blender (carefully!) in the skillet to mix everything together if it's at all lumpy.
• Add the cream sauce back to the soup base in the crock pot.
• Add the bacon bits and chives. Stir it all together to incorporate.
• Serve hot!

This soup also freezes well, so if you find that the yield is too much for your family, you can save some for later or gift it to a friend in need of a delicious meal.

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Thank you for visiting the Simply Living Blog Carnival cohosted by Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children and Laura at Authentic Parenting. We hope you will join us next month!

• Seeking Balance - At Sagetribe, Kelly speaks about how their journey as a family has very much been marked by their journey into finding and learning about real food. From veggie burgers made and immediately frozen to homemade breads and cheeses, they've found the best way to find balance in their food story, is to keep simple ingredients on hand.
• Keeping Holiday Food Simple - At Living Peacefully with Children, Mandy shares how her family has developed a holiday tradition with food that allows her family to enjoy the day rather than slaving away.
• Grain-Free Crock Pot Baked Potato Soup Recipe - A hearty and delicious crock pot soup recipe helps to simplify food planning and preparation for any family. Amy at Anktangle shares her tried-and-true recipe for loaded baked potato soup—made without any grains or flours. What's more: it freezes well for reheating later!
• Feeing a Family in the Middle of Nowhere - At Authentic Parenting, Laura writes about the many ways she has found over seven years of living in the middle of nowhere to feed her family paleo.
• The Mind is a Wonderful Thing to Taste - Zoie at TouchstoneZ sees cooking with her family as a mindfulness practice and as service to her family.

Share your posts on simplifying meals, great simple recipes, healthy eating, and more. Just link up any old or new posts between now and December 19, 2013.