Gluten Free Baked Potato Soup They'll Love

Nothing wards of the last of winter like warm hearty soup. There are many benefits to sending homemade soup to school for lunch like: being able to keep it warm in a thermos, giving your child a healthy dose of vegetables to equal that needed 3-5 servings daily. But what kind of vegetables can you get them to eat?

Hot Potato, Hot Potato

One of the vegetables that has gotten a bad rap for the past few years is potatoes. But potatoes are highly nutritious, and not only filling, but also comforting while being beneficial to your family's health. Raw white potatoes lower blood pressure and have soluble fiber content, they are also high in Vitamin C, 20% of daily B6, including high Potassium, Iron, and Copper.

My mother makes a Southern Potato Soup which is incredibly simple! We just adapted it to gluten free and our little R.O.C.K. Star eats it like there's no tomorrow. The best part is we can make it ahead of time and freeze it if need be for future servings.

She often asks for seconds and you can add to the nutritious value by throwing in a little fresh kale or leeks chopped up to give an added punch without them even knowing how good it is for them. You could add carrots and peas if they like that or even bell pepper and corn for a Southwestern version.

Be as creative as you like and experiment to get them to try new tastes:-)

Gluten Free Southern Baked Potato Soup

6 white potatoes

1 medium onion or leek

2 tablespoons of butter

Peel and cut potatoes and onion into chunks.

Cover with water and about butter. Boil on medium heat until potatoes are tender about 20 - 30 minutes.

Now you need to make your roux base or soup thickener which is a creamy milk base. Not hard to make but it is much better than just corn starch - trust me. 

Soup Thickener

Fry 3 to 4 pieces of natural salt pork. Health conscious people would say salt pork is bad for you. However, I have family members that lived to be over 100 years old and ate it in lieu of meat sometimes. But the salt pork can be deleted and substituted with 4 bacon strips which we crumble in after cooking

Add 1/4 cup of Rice Flour, Salt and Pepper, and stir until mixed with drippings. This is like making gravy, but do not brown it.

Add about 1 Cup of Milk and Heat. It should then thicken into a white sauce.

Immediately add to Cooked Potatoes/Onion mixture, and allow to simmer until ready to eat.

It will thicken, and if you need to add any more liquid, just add more milk.

Serve with grated cheese, chopped green onions, bacon bits, etc. on top.

Great with corn bread or corn muffins.