Meatless Monday ~ Potato & Asparagus Soup

When we first started participating in Meatless Monday, I had a hard time thinking of new things to make for dinner that weren't centered around pasta - that was always my last minute "Eeek, what am I going to make for dinner?" meal. I feel pretty hard-core now that we're going meat-free, gluten-free and dairy-free ("GFCF"). That takes a little more thought and effort.

Tonight we had a GFCF cream of potato and asparagus soup with homemade croutons that was delicious. (Even the kids asked for seconds!) It's a little different from your normal potato soup that would include butter and milk or cream, but it's really just as good (and less fattening!).

Remember I'm not big on precision, so here's a makeshift recipe...

6 medium sized potatoes
6 cups water
3 Tbsp chicken bullion (or chicken stock, or veggie stock)
1 bunch of asparagus
1/2 of a small onion
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper
olive oil

• Clean and cut potatoes into small bits. (Remove skin if you'd like; I left it on.)
• Boil water and chicken bullion, add potatoes, boil until tender.
• Separately, steam asparagus for a few minutes. You'll want it to still be slightly crisp rather than mushy. Cut up asparagus into bite sizes pieces and set aside.
  
• Reserve the bottom 2 inches of each stalk and puree it in a food processor or blender.
• Chop onion and garlic. Saute it along with the asparagus.

• When potatoes are tender, mash with a potato masher. Add asparagus puree and the sauteed asparagus, onion and garlic.
• Stir together and let simmer for about 20 - 30 minutes. If you find that it's too thin you can add corn starch; if it's too thick, you can add in some of the water that you used to steam the asparagus. It should be filled with good vitamins.
  
• Add salt and pepper -- or other spices -- to taste.

We had half a loaf of french bread left from last night's meal, so I cut it up and baked it in the oven with butter and garlic salt at 170 degrees. It was perfect on top of the soup! For my GFCF boy I made some croutons from his gluten-free bread.

I love it when a meal comes together and everyone is happy!