My favorite food on the planet? Soup.  Pretty much any kind I can get my hands on. 

On my list of favorites?  Curried Butternut Squash, Carrot Ginger, and Potato Leek.  Tonight, I had a “hankering” (love that word: ) for Potato Leek soup.  Given that I eat supportively now, I had to make a couple of changes to an old classic for two reasons: 1. Potatoes are a starchy carbohydrate, and in order to lose fat you need to cut out/limit starchy carbs and 2. Typically, Potato Leek soup is just that-potatoes and leeks.  I added shredded chicken to mine, because without a good protein source, while still good for you and veggie-packed, it’s not a complete meal (protein with a fibrous carb-fruit/veggie).   

So to solve problem number 1, I omitted potatoes, and used a head of cauliflower.  Issue number 2, making the formerly non-protein-containing recipe into a supportive meal was done  by adding chicken. 

So to begin, I cut up three leeks (video on how to cut leeks to follow) -just the bulb, not the leaves, and softened them in olive oil with a tablespoon of chopped garlic:

Softening the Leeks and Chopped Garlic

I then added one 32 oz. low sodium chicken broth (you can use vegetable, too if that’s what you have), and, while that was heating up to a boil, I was busy chopping baby carrots (I like the size of the carrots, because I have kids, and big chunks make me nervous; feel free to use your standard carrot) and roughly chopping up a head of cauliflower.   Once it was boiling, I put all the veggies in.  It looked like this:

Simmering up the soup

Next, once the veggies were all fully softened, I used a slotted spoon to scoop out some small pieces of veggies; while this soup is pureed, I love a little bit of chunk to my vegetables, too.  I left all of the broth and most of the vegetables in the pot, and scooped out a bowl of cauliflower and carrots. 

Maintaining Some Chunkiness in the Soup

Next up, my favorite kitchen accessory- my $12 immersion blender.  On a side note, if you don’t have one, you SHOULD!  This thing is perfect for making sauces, soups, smoothies, Pie in a glass, well…pretty much anything.  I blended it

Immersion Blender, Doin' what it does best!

…until it was smooth and creamy, then stirred in the rough chunks of veggies and some shredded cooked chicken (I used about 2 breasts that I had pre-cooked this weekend).  Here’s the final result:

Faux-tato Leek Soup

Faux-tato Leek Soup

Enjoy a bowl-or two-with little shame.  For me, soups and stews are the epitome of comfort food.  Especially the cream-based chowder types.  Here’s a way for me to really have a rich, thick, hearty soup, without sacrificing or undoing all of my hard work at Bootcamp.

~For all my Vegetarian readers, you can easily make this a vegetarian recipe by omitting the chicken and substituting Chicken stock with Vegetable stock.  For added protein, try adding a can of chickpeas before pureeing.  Don’t forget to let me know how it turns out!!