Spinach Potato Soup with Tomato & Basil

As long as we have soup ingredients, I say let it snow! let it snow! let it snow!



Here's a warm delicious soup inspired by our recent snow day.  Using leftovers and items from my pantry, I came up with this creamy nutritious soup recipe.  We ate it alone for a light lunch, but it would also go great with grilled cheese sandwiches.  Once again, it turned out to be a great dish to share with Peanut - after eating some of her own lunch, we gave her some soup to try and she ended up eating a whole little bowl full of it!

Spinach Potato Soup with Tomato & Basil

Ingredients:

- 2 T. olive oil

- 1 small onion, chopped

- 2 c. leftover garlic mashed potatoes

- 1 carton chicken stock (4 cups)

- 3 c. packed baby spinach (I only had about 1.5 - 2 c., but I think it could use more)

- 2 T. basil (paste, dried, or fresh)

- 1 t. Italian spice mix

- 1 t. salt

- 1/2 t. black pepper

- 1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes

- 1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1.  Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium high heat.  Add the chopped onion and saute 2-3 minutes, until softened.

how pretty is my new Warther knife?

a Christmas gift from my hubby :)

2.  Add the mashed potatoes and stock, and stir well to combine.  Add the spinach and spices and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes until spinach wilts and potatoes break down.

3.  Removed from heat.  Using an immersion blender (or a regular blender in batches), puree until smooth consistency is achieved.  Add the tomatoes and parmesan and stir until cheese melts.  Serve immediately.

now we have a creamy, green soup

plus some delicious diced tomatoes for texture

and parmesan for richness

top with a little more grated parmesan

because it just looks pretty :)

printable recipe

And now for everyone's favorite food critic, Peanut:

maybe if I look as sweet as possible

they'll give me some soup...

or maybe I'll just demand it... need more soup!!

aww, that's better!