Creamy Potato Soup

It's officially Autumn.

As the weather is shifting into cool gray days, I find myself looking forward to time spent indoors working on projects, cooking, baking & just snuggling with my kids on the couch.

I am a Summer girl through and through, but something about the energy this time of year allows me to slow down and savor the coziness of spending my days in tune with the season. Warm sweaters, collecting acorns & leaves, fuzzy socks, hats & scarves...ohh my heart could burst with excitement when I think of all the knitting to be done!
Around here, lots of soup gets made in the cooler months. Were big fans..throw it in the crock pot in the morning or on slower days, everyone lends a hand chopping and stirring in the evening. Cooking with my kids is not only good for them to learn math, measurement and about where there food came from, but it also fills me with great joy. There is nothing like a healthy, homegrown meal to pull the family together at the end of the day. It really tends to bring us to center after a long day apart.

The Blessing my children have been singing before meals has been with our family since River was one. I wanted a way to teach my children to acknowledge and appreciate all that goes into creating & preparing our meals, something so many seem to take for granted. We came up with this..

"Thank you for this food,
from the Earth,
& the Animals
& Minerals
that made it possible."

As they sing it, they always add in a few extra thank yous.. to the farmers or the Mama that made it, to the workers who made the stove we cooked it on...ect.. and because I always end my own prayers & blessings by putting my hands together and bowing in Namaste, my children as babies turned this into putting your hands together and stretching them over your head to "relax and make room for food in your belly." hehehe. Even at 9 & 7, they still end the blessing in this way. They clap there hands behind their heads and dig in. :) It's funny to type it out because it is a small moment that gets lost in the everyday motions since it has been done for almost 9 years now, but I feel deep gratitude for the sweetness of it.

The last few nights I have in a "soupy" mood. It's so gray, we need lamps on in the house during the day and a cool damp breeze floats through the windows. Geese have been flying over joyously honking all morning...Soup is in order.

I'm sharing my favorite Potato Soup Recipe with you today. I was inspired when I pulled my wonderful, well loved cookbook off the shelf in three pieces this morning, missing a cover & splattered with cooking stains & flour. Everyone needs this simple recipe in their collection.



Cream of Potato Soup
from The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook

Scrub & cut 10 cups of white potatoes. Boil until soft in 6 cups of water and 2 tsp sea salt.

Meanwhile, saute 1 med onion (about 1 cup) in 1/4 cup of oil. Add 1/4 cup flour to onions to make a smooth paste. Stir constantly.

Drain Potatoes, saving water. Mash 2 cups potatoes and add to the potatoes in the pot, along with:
4 cups potato water
2 cups soy milk or organic milk
onion-flour paste
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp dill weed
1 tbsp butter or vegan expeller pressed margarine

Cook over low hear 10-15 minutes.







A Blessed Autumn to you & yours :)