Aug 19, 2012
This soup is such a delicious comfort food that my family craves and I have to make it at least twice a month no matter what the season is. I've made it with both vegetable stock and chicken stock, and they're both good, although I slightly prefer using chicken stock. I double the yellow onion and celery to get more daily veggies in our diet. To save time, I don't remove any from the pot to puree in a blender. Instead, I use a hand blender to puree it while all of the soup is in the pot just long enough to puree it to make it look creamy and so that some potato chunks are left rather than pureeing until it is completely smooth, because we like to have some chunks of potatoes. Also, I start cooking the sliced baby carrots in a separate pot in some vegetable or chicken stock at the same time that I start cooking the onions, leeks and garlic in the big pot so that the carrots can cook long enough to get very soft before I add them to the pot after I've used the hand blender. I've also substituted half and half for the heavy cream and it was just as good while saving some fat and calories. One time, I didn't have any half and half or cream on hand, so I just served it without either and it was still good since pureeing it makes it very creamy looking and tasting. However, we prefer to have at least some half and half added. I think the leeks are what makes this soup so delicious. My kids love it, and it's a great way for them to get their vegetables in a healthy soup!
—TX Bluebonnet
