Rosemary Potato Soup

It’s soup season! But soup, like salad, can be a sneaky concealer of unhealthy ingredients. Soup is often packed with butter, sour cream, cheese and fatty cuts of meat. Making soups at home allows you to control what goes into the pot, and therefore enhances what you get out of it! This potato soup is a great one to start with. It is easy to make and tastes just as creamy as its unhealthy rivals.

Rosemary Potato Soup

Ingredients

• 10 red new potatoes
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• ½ tsp sea salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 2 cups almond milk

Preparation Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cut potatoes into quarters and onion into cubes.
3. Toss in olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread in a baking dish.
4. Remove rosemary leaves from woody stem and sprinkle across the top.
5. Bake for 1 hour.
6. Transfer to a blender, add almond milk and puree until smooth.
7. Makes about 6 cups.

Rosemary sprig before de-stemming

Potatoes and onions ready-to-bake

After baking

Blending with almond milk

Fuel Facts

Numbers: 112 calories, 2 g protein, 5 g fat, 12 g carbs, 2 g fiber

       **For a 1 cup serving

Ingredient Breakdown:

v Potatoes – Often shuned as a starchy, high-carb food by those trying to watch their weight, when prepared properly, potatoes can actually be a great addition to a well-balanced diet.  When you take away the butter, sour cream, cheese and other high fat items often paired with potatoes, you are left with a low-calorie, high-fiber food.

v Onion – These pungent vegetables are rich in flavor and health benefits. Onions are particularly high in the flavonoid quercetin. Quercetin has been studied for its ability to prevent tumor growth, especially in cases of lung cancer. The flavonoid is also being studied for its potential to prevent the release of histamines, chemicals that cause allergic reactions. This has not yet been studied for effectiveness in humans, but researchers believe quercetin could reduce allergy symptoms such watery eyes and runny nose.

v Olive Oil – The oil gained popularity when research came out supporting the Mediterranean diet. About 70% of the fat in olive oil comes from oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat found to lower blood cholesterol and improve the ratio of LDL (bad) to HDL (good) cholesterol. Olive oil also hosts a wide range of phytonutrients which leads to benefits in almost all of the body systems.

v Rosemary – The herb has been associated with improved digestion, and enhancing concentration and memory by increasing blood flow to the head and brain.

v Almond Milk – A creamy, low-calorie substitute for cow’s milk, this nutty variety is easy to digest making it a good add to pre-workout meals or smoothies.