Meatless Monday Healthy Potato Leek soup

I have to admit vegetarian dinners can be a bit taboo in this house, despite me being a a veg head for over a decade (I'm an omnivore now) I find it hard to please my boys without meat. My husband enjoys a high protein low carb diet and that can be a challenge when working with the plant only kingdom. However I can usually get away with it on Monday nights because we typically don't do an intense workout that day and I usually have something delicious up my sleeve.

This week I made potato leek soup, now technically this dish is not completely vegetarian because I opted to use chicken broth, mainly because I had some in the fridge I needed to use but one could easily substitute veggie broth or even lowfat milk and still keep it healthy and delicious.

Now, I love a good creamy potato leek soup that's cheesy and delicious but I promise you this version is just as good and as a bonus we leave out all the unnecessary fat (which I saved for putting loads of butter on my bread!)

Ok, here's what you'll need

4 potatoes of choice chopped into tiny 1/4 inch squares (I used 2 white sweet potatoes and 2 red skinned potatoes because they cook down into creamy starchy deliciousness)

1 giant leek or a couple small ones ends removed slice down the middle wash and then slice into small strips

1/4 onion diced

5-6 carrots washed and sliced into bite sized pieces

3-4 stalks of celery washed and sliced into bite sized pieces

a couple cloves of garlic

a little bit of butter and olive oil

4 C chicken broth

and about a teaspoon of each dried herb

orageno
red pepper flakes
salt
pepper
thyme
sage
parsley
1-2 bay leaves

Your cutting board should look something like this  (as a side note if you live in a warmer climate most of these veggies should be available to you right now locally!)

In a big pot melt on low-medium a heavy tablespoon of butter, when melted place all veggies in the pot and stir around for a bit. When the bottom of the pan looks dry (butter all soaked up) add a swirl of olive oil and let veggies cook and stir occasionally. This part is important it takes a little while but let the veggies cook slowly after about 10 minutes stir in the garlic and herbs.

When the veggies are softish not crunchy but not mushy yet stir in the chicken broth (or broth of choice), switch the heat to low add a lid and let this pot of deliciouness simmer as long as you can wait! I paired this with whole wheat spinach and red pepper bread with a tad of butter.

Bon Appetit!