Loaded Baked Potato Soup – Lite

This soup is wonderful and is one of our family favorites. We wanted to make this soup healthier without losing the great flavor. Much of the fat in the soup comes from margarine that is used to make the creamy base. The margarine was removed totally from the soup. The cream base can be made with flour and milk like method used to make Fat Free White Sauce recipe in the Freezer Cooking Manual. Another source of fat is the bacon. Turkey was substituted for regular bacon. If you can’t force yourself to make the switch from regular bacon to turkey bacon, try mixing them half and half. You’ll still cut some of the fat from the recipe. Fat free cheddar cheese was substituted for regular cheddar in the soup itself. Fat free cheddar usually does not melt as well as regular cheddar but because it is in the soup and not by itself, it works in this recipe.

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Assembly Directions:
Scrub potatoes and wrap each one in aluminum foil. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 60-90 minutes, or until they’re soft when you squeeze them. Remove the potatoes from the oven, unwrap and cut in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to scoop out the pulp into a large bowl. Set aside. Save the leftover skins to make potato skins, or discard.
Place the flour in a bowl. Measure out 1/3 of the milk required (2 C. per recipe) and gradually stir it into flour until the mixture is no longer lumpy. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and add the remaining milk (4 C. per recipe). Turn heat on stove to medium. Continue to stir until mixture is thick and bubbly. Add the cheddar cheese, salt, pepper, and bacon. Mash the potato pulp with a hand-held potato masher, a fork, or a mixer, to get rid of the large chunks. Add the potato pulp to the pan, stirring to mix. When it is heated through, add the sour cream and stir to mix well. Do not boil the soup. Set aside to cool.

Freezing Directions:
Freeze in freezer bags or rigid containers based on your family size. Seal, label and freeze.

Serving Directions:
Thaw at least overnight in the refrigerator. Put the soup in a saucepan or microwave-safe container to heat. The soup will have the consistency of soft mashed potatoes. If needed, stir in some milk to make it more “soup-like”, but not too much. The soup will thin some as it warms up. The soup should be thick, not runny. Once it’s heated through, spoon into serving bowls. Top each bowl with a sprinkle of shredded cheddar and some green onions as garnish.

Comments:
*8 strips of bacon = 1/2 cup crumbled
** Green onions refer to individual onions, not bunches of onions.
My family loves this version of the soup as well as the regular version. There are never any leftovers.

Recipe Tip: Microwave the potatoes instead of baking them in the oven to speed up this recipe. Four potatoes will generally take 6 to 12 minutes on high. You can warm the milk in the microwave in 2 C. batches for 60 to 90 seconds to speed up the heating of the milk mixture.

Nutritional Info:
Per Serving: 251 Calories; 5g Fat (17.0% calories from fat); 22g Protein; 31g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 25mg Cholesterol; 700mg Sodium.
Exchanges: 1-1/2 Grain (Starch); 2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Non-Fat Milk; 1/2 Fat.