With heading to Nashville to see our newest family addition, I tried to use up foods that are on hand but perishable. So, a few Idaho potatoes were beckoning for use. And the weather has not been very warm, so a last hurrah with a soup seemed to fit the bill before hot summery days arrive.

Cheesy Potato Soup

Ingredients

3 cups reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth

2 cups peeled, diced white potatoes

1 cup finely shredded carrots

1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion

1/2 cup finely diced celery

2 and 1/2 cups skim milk

5 tablespoons cornstarch

shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese

Directions

Line up major ingredients first.

Now, this chicken broth is very very low in sodium, at a mere 150 mg per 1 cup. The regular broths contain ~1,000 mg sodium per 1 cup, and the reduced-sodium are down to about 500 mg – ot much of a savings, if you ask me!

In large saucepan place broth, potatoes, carrots, onions and celery. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to simmer, cover with lid, and simmer for about 10 minutes. Vegetables should be very tender.

Using a potato masher, smash the vegetables. In a small bowl, whisk 1/2 cup milk with cornstarch until smooth. Whisk into the soup, along with the remainder of the milk. Cook gently over low heat to thicken the soup. Ladle into soup bowl and top with a small handful of cheese. YUM!! Makes 6 servings.

Then I had the brilliant idea to make muffins or a loaf of bread to go with the soup. Pumpkin bread – great option. So I began to make it – whisking together the dry ingredients, and then stirring together the liquid ingredients, and… lo-and-behold, I did NOT have one single can of 100% pure pumpkin. Really? I always have canned pumpkin on hand. At least I thought I did. I did not follow my rule of thumb, and that is, pull out the recipe ingredients before starting to cook/bake, to be sure that you have all the ingredients. So, since I was committed, I made a few changes in the recipe by filling in with other liquid/moist ingredients. Here is this adapted recipe:

Spice Loaf Bread

Ingredients

1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

4 egg whites or 12 tablespoons commercial egg whites (in carton)

1 cup nonfat buttermilk

1/2 cup natural applesauce

3 tablespoons molasses

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8×4-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

In large bowl, whisk together white and whole wheat flours, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger and cloves.

Add in the egg whites, buttermilk, applesauce and molasses. Using an electric mixer, beat on low speed just until blended, then beat on high speed for 2 minutes.

Pour batter into loaf pan. Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove bread and cool on a wire rack. Makes 1 loaf.

Rich and creamy potato soup, served with moist spice bread. Perfect combo. And half of the bread was wrapped and popped into the freezer for later use.