I am incapable of wasting food. Part of it is me being frugal and hating to waste money. I also just really like leftovers. All the flavors meld together. When I was in the hospital my mom was here for a week and a half. She is not a leftovers person. So when she left, I had lots of leftovers in my fridge. Works for me. I had chicken parmesan, roasted green beans, pot pie, pizza, and mashed potatoes. I usually eat leftovers in their original state. Meaning I don’t usually turn leftovers into different meals. That’s one of the beauties about leftovers, they are already made. No more cooking or dishes to do. However I think the only leftover I really don’t like is mashed potatoes. They seem to get really dry after the day they are made. I had a bunch in my fridge so I figured I’d use them as a base for a potato soup. I winged it in the kitchen, also using up random vegetables I had bought before going into the hospital that needed to be used. It turned out great! Like really great!
Loaded Baked Potato Vegetable Soup
serves 2-3
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup diced potatoes, skins left on
2 cups chopped kale
4 oz mushrooms, chopped
2/3 cup leftover mashed potatoes (or cauliflower puree)
4-8 pieces of bacon
1/2 tsp chopped garlic
1/4 small onion chopped or 1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese + 2 TB for garnish
1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
Boil chopped potatoes until fork tender. Drain liquid and put potatoes back in pot. Add broth, kale, mushrooms, mashed potatoes, bacon (reserve a TB or two for garnish), garlic, and onion powder. Simmer for 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add cheese and stir. Split soup between two bowls and garnish each with 1 TB cheese, a little bacon, and some greek yogurt.
Yum, this was seriously delicious. For once, I actually wish I had more leftover mashed potatoes. If you don’t have leftover mashed potatoes, just make some real quick. Boil potatoes and roughly mash them with 1 TB of butter and a little milk then continue on with the recipe. This recipe is pretty lenient so if you have 1 cup leftover mashed potatoes, go with it and throw it all in. If you only have 1/2 cup, again, go with it, it will be fine. I almost added 1/2 cup frozen corn but I really needed to use up my kale and mushrooms. So use whatever veggies you have on hand.
The reason I said 4-8 pieces of bacon is because when I use bacon in a recipe, I cut off all the fat before I cook it. So to get the same volume and flavor of bacon I used 8 pieces. Check out that big pile of fat. I know a lot of it cooks away but a lot doesn’t and I am not a fan of eating that much animal fat. But if you choose to cook the bacon in its entirety you will only need 4 pieces. That will provide plenty of volume and flavor.
This is going to be my new go to meal to use up Thanksgiving mashed potatoes. Whenever I heat up Thanksgiving or Christmas leftovers, I give all the potatoes to Dave. I’m not so sure he really likes them leftover either but I don’t think he ever notices I don’t put any on my plate. Just one advantage of being the cook!
And Alyssa insisted I added this picture. She jumps into every picture I take and then asks to see it.
Fuel My Family 