Monday, March 2, 2009

Herbed Potato Soup ($1.35 per serving)

Here is my first attempt at figuring out the cost of a meal! I'm figuring it out based on the amount of an ingredient I use. So - if you went to the grocery store and bought everything it would cost more because you'd most likely have to buy "extra" of some of the staple ingredients.

Anyway!

We had a lovely rare Georgia snow here last weekend and I decided it was the perfect time to make some soup! Here's what I did:

I peeled and sliced two potatoes and cooked them over medium heat in 2 cups of chicken broth.


Meanwhile, I sauteed 1/2 of an onion, chopped, in a 1/4 cup of butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan. After the onion was tender I threw in 1 tsp minced garlic and cooked until fragrant. Then, added 1/4 cup of flour and a tsp each of crushed rosemary, salt, and thyme along with a 1/4 tsp of pepper. I then gradually stirred in 1 1/2 cups of milk and stirred often over medium-high heat until the mixture boiled. I let it boil for two minutes.


By this point the potatoes were tender. I used a potato masher to slightly mash the potatoes (in the chicken broth)

I then poured the potatoes and broth into the flour/milk/spice mixture and stirred well. Let it cook there for just a couple more minutes and then you're good to go!


I included a bit of cheese and bacon on top which is not included in the price breakdown.

Cost Breakdown (rounded)
2 potatoes 2.00
1.5 cup milk (organic price) 1.25
¼ cup butter .25
½ onion .35
1 Tsp minced garlic .20
¼ cup flour .05
Various spices .50 (estimate)
2 cups chicken broth 1.25

Total: $5.40 - - - makes 4 servings, so $1.35 per serving

I'd never made potato soup before - but I was pleasantly surprised with this! Very creamy and very easy. (And cheap I discovered while breaking down the price.)

And then after your insides are all warm with potato soup you should go outside and make an odd looking snowman.

7 comments:

  1. Sounds good...but do you think it'd taste okay if the onion was left out (or with minimal onion powder put in instead)?

    My husband and I are not fans of onions. :/

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  2. I'm sure it'll still be fine!

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  3. I have all the ingredients for this.. think I might make it this week. We're living on beans, rice, potatoes and oatmeal right now, so this would be a good addition, lol.

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  4. Yum! These is neat and inexpensive. I might have to make that for Franklin next week.

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  5. Another question...

    What's the best way to mince garlic? I try to sliced them like mini french fries, then cut into tiny cubes, then randomly slicing the cubes for a while until I can't seem to get them smaller. But this process takes a long time. Is there a more efficient way?

    I don't have a food processor. :/

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  6. I just go at it with a butcher's knife like you described.. It doesn't have to be super small. You can buy jarred minced garlic at the store as well.

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