Every year for the past several years we receive a gift card from a very dear friend who lives in Florida. Last year we drove to the restaurant to find that it had closed (CARRABBAS Italian Restuarant). Luckily, it was the type of gift card that worked at an affiliated restaurant OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE. This year, we received another gift card, but with COVID, my husband is still apprehensive about going and sitting inside, so we decided to order take out. The nearest restaurant is about a 30 minute drive. I placed the order over the phone – my husband left the house just as I was ordering so that it would be hot when he got it home.

I usually order the grass fed beef burger, but they no longer had it on the menu, so the only thing on the menu I was interested in was the potato soup. I ordered a porterhouse steak for my husband, a hamburger for my son, and Mac n Cheese for my daughter. Well, he came home with the order. After going through all the food and making sure everything was there, it was apparent they forgot to add the potato soup to the bag.

Ever since then, I kept thinking about potato soup. When I arrived home from an errand today, my Misfits box was on my front steps. I was very excited when I opened the box because there were russet potatoes in the box. Oh boy! I immediately peeled them, cut them, gather the other ingredients that were in the book I received with my cooking blender. Yes, this blender puree’s and cooks the soup all in one.

Things you will need: Potato, onion, garlic, carrot, celery, vegetable stock. Blender.

If you don’t have this blender, then you can throw everything in a dutch over and cook until the potatoes are cooked (fork goes through easily). Once everything is cooked, you can place everything in a blender – be careful because it is hot. You may need to cool it down before putting the top on the blender and blending. The heat from the liquid will cause the blender to explode its contents. ‘

If using this special blender, cut the potato into pieces, pour the water and 2 tsp vegetable base into blender, toss in the potato, garlic, carrot, celery stalk. Put the top on the blender, turn dial to soup, it will cook in 30 minutes. Serve with thyme! You can add pepper if you would like

Ingredients:

1 russet potato, peeled, cut into 1 inch size pieces

2 1/2 cups water

2 tsp vegetable base

4 tablespoons of butter or vegan butter

1 medium onion (cut in quarters)

2 garlic cloves peeled and cut in half (whole if you are using the special blender)

1 carrot peeled and cut into Inch size pieces (cut in half if you are using the special blender)

1 celery stalk cut into pieces (cut in half if you are using the special blender)

(you can add cheddar cheese, bacon or broccoli to this soup too!)