Potato Soup

I love, love, love potato soup. I get it as often as I can when we go out, but I rarely make it. My kids have a bit of a thing about potatoes, so I really haven't wanted to risk it. They're getting a little better and I had a whole bunch of leftover ham that I thought sounded good in soup, so I decided to try. I saw this recipe and thought it sounded really yummy, but it doesn't have many veggies, the rest of the family has a thing about celery (and onion, and sometimes carrots), and the chunks of potato are iffy in my house. Also, I don't like to peel potatoes. So here's what I came up with. It turned out so wonderful. My kids complained a little bit but did eat it and the rest of us really liked it... and spinach, hooray.

Quickie Potato Soup without Chunks

10 small red potatoes, scrubbed and diced
6 ribs of celery, washed and diced
1 bag of mini baby carrots (8oz?), diced
1 small red onion, diced
3 Tbls butter
1 bag of spinach
10 cups water
1 Tbls Better than Bouillon
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup flour
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/4-1/2 tsp nutmeg
3+ cups of diced ham

Once all the veggies are diced, melt 2 Tbls of butter in a large stock pot, then add all the veggies (onion, carrots, celery, and potatoes). Cook for about 10 minutes, then throw in the water, Better Than Bouillon, and salt. Let this simmer (uncovered is fine) for about 20-30 minutes - until the potatoes seem soft/cooked through.

While it's simmering, melt the other Tbls of butter in a pan and cook the spinach until it's all wilt-y. Transfer the spinach to the Vita-Mix, add water to cover the spinach, and blend on high for 15-20 seconds. Keep going until you don't see any actual leafy bits of spinach. It should be totally smooth. Add this to the soup pot as soon as it's done in the Vita-Mix and keep simmering.

When everything seems to be cooked long enough, transfer 4-ish cups of soup at a time to the Vita-Mix and process on high for 15-30 seconds each batch until there are no lumps (careful, this is hot and too much in the Vita-Mix at a time means it'll spray out the top at you when you turn it on!). Transfer to a holding container until you've gotten through the whole pot. Then you can pour everything back into the stock pot. Mix the flour and almond milk in a separate container until it's smooth, then add it into the freshly processed soup in the stock pot. Cook and stir for 5 minutes or so. Then add the nutmeg and cheese. Cook and stir until the cheese is completely melted and combined. Finally, add all the ham and stir until it's warm enough - maybe 5 minutes. Serve and enjoy.