All of my Saturday cleaning chores were done, and I found 5 pretty little new potatoes. Have wanted to make a potato soup – uncovered two old recipes (one was mom’s and one from a 1942 cookbook). So combined the ideas from both to make this delicious concoction. And thank goodness for this cooler Fall weather because I have been hankering for soup or chowder.

New England Potato Soup

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

5-6 new potatoes, scrubbed, skin left on

1 medium onion

2-3 stalks celery

freshly ground black pepper

3 cups reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth

2 tablespoons soft margarine, with 0 grams trans fats

just shy of 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (for thickening)

2 cups fat-free milk

grated reduced-fat cheddar cheese

Directions

Assemble ingredients. Here are the fresh items.

Please slice and dice me.

Wash, slice and dice. BUT, no peeling of the potatoes. I want all that fiber and texture that the peel provides.

Heat olive oil in large saucepan. Add onions first and saute for 1-2 minutes. Then add celery to saute until tender. Finally stir in the potatoes.

Pour in the chicken broth and stir to combine. Bring up the heat to boiling. Add in black pepper to taste.

Reduce the heat to simmer. Put the lid on and let this wonderful mixture simmer for about 25 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. (Fork tender means that when you pierce them with a fork, you will not feel any hardness- the fork easily pierces the flesh of the potato).

While the potatoes cook and soak up all that flavor from the broth, you’ll want to make a thin white sauce with the margarine, flour and milk. Melt the margarine (or butter) in a small saucepan. When melted, whisk in the flour – the mixture will quickly thicken. The pour in the milk a little at a time, whisking as you go to get a smooth texture. Reduce heat to low, and keep warm until ready to add to the potatoes.

When potatoes are nice and soft, mash them up with a potato masher. You can either mash them up really well, or keep them slightly coarse. That is your call.

Pour in the thickened milk and stir to blend. Heat a little more to marry all the flavors. Then it is ready to serve up.

Dinner’s ready. Spirnkle a little cheese on the top of each serving. The best part is that there will be leftovers and you can bet this soup will be even tastier the second time around.

Nutrition Note: All of the old-time potato soup recipes call for a generous amount of salt. I almost never add salt to my recipes to keep our blood pressure perfect, but you can certainly add salt if that is your pref. Just a reminder that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans for sodium are to take in less than 2,300 milligrams per day, and 1 teaspoon of salt = 2,300 milligrams of sodium.