Roasted Garlic-Potato Soup

Thickened by mashed potatoes, this rich soup gets its hearty, smoky flavor from the addition of bacon and garlic.

Yield: 7 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

Ingredients

• 5  whole garlic heads
• 2  bacon slices, diced
• 1  cup  diced onion
• 1  cup  diced carrot
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 6  cups  diced baking potato (about 2 pounds)
• 4  cups  low-salt chicken broth
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  pepper
• 1  bay leaf
• 1  cup  2% low-fat milk
• 1/4  cup  chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

Remove white papery skin from each garlic head (do not peel or separate cloves). Wrap each head separately in aluminum foil. Bake at 350° for 1 hour; let cool for 10 minutes. Separate cloves, and squeeze to extract 1/4 cup of garlic pulp; discard the skins.

Cook bacon in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until crisp. Add onion, carrot, and minced garlic, and sauté 5 minutes. Add potato, broth, salt, pepper, and bay leaf; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until potato is tender; remove bay leaf.

Combine garlic pulp and 2 cups potato mixture in a blender or food processor, and process until smooth. Return purée to pan; stir in milk, and cook over low heat until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat, and stir in chopped parsley.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

199 (14% from fat)

Fat:

3g (sat 1.1g,mono 0.5g,poly 0.4g)

Protein:

7.8g

Carbohydrate:

38g

Fiber:

3.9g

Cholesterol:

5mg

Iron:

2.8mg

Sodium:

300mg

Calcium:

150mg