Jalapeno Potato Soup

This potato soup totally rocks! We enjoyed this delightful soup while we were on our 2 week Caribbean cruise. This was hands down one of our most favorite meals on the cruise ship and this recipe is straight from the Chef~~~



2 1/2 lbs Potatoes (about 5 potatoes) peeled and chopped
2 Tbsp Margarine
1/2 cup Chopped Onion
4 cups Chicken Broth (99% fat free)
1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
2 Tbsp Chopped Jalapeno Peppers
2 cups Evaporated Milk (nonfat)
1 1/2 Tbsp Salt
2 tsp Ground Black Pepper
pinch of Baking Soda
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Directions

Melt the margarine in large pot and saute chopped onions on medium heat. Once the onions have turned clear, add the potatoes, chicken broth, and cumin. Stir and bring to a boil. Then cover, reduce heat to medium, and allow the potatoes to cook until they soften enough to eat (about 20 minutes). After the potatoes have cooked, remove the pot from the heat and add the chopped jalapenos, a pinch of baking soda, and the evaporated milk.
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Mash the potatoes with a potato masher (or a large fork if you don't have a potato masher) while they're still in the pot.
Stir thoroughly and add the salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often.
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2 Tbsp of canned jalapenos is spicy, so adjust more or less to your taste. I preferred to use fresh jalapenos and ended up adding 2 small peppers. Obviously, it will depend upon how spicy hot the peppers are - so add a little and increase as needed until you get it to suit your taste. The soup should have just a little bite to it.
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After adding the jalapenos and simmering for a few minutes, I placed a small amount of the soup in a blender and pureed it, then added it back to the soup. This seemed to produce a nice creamy but thick soup - very similar to what we had on the cruise ship.
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Add some fresh crusty bread (I made some in my bread machine) - and you are all set! If you make this soup, please come back here and leave a comment. I would love to know your thoughts on what we all thought was a fabulous soup!




Some updates from me~~~~
I am working on the baby shower pictures and can't wait to show them to you - (but I know you don't want to see them all!) - so soon I will be ready to share those with you.
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After that I will be sharing our Caribbean vacation pictures with you - am still working on those also.
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Coming up VERY soon - pictures of that little blue cabled baby blanket - wait till you see what I did with that (thanks to all the wonderful suggestions from my new friends!)
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AND be sure to be here on April 1 for a fun little posting (hint - think beautiful spring flowers and LOTS and LOTS of yarn!)
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AND because SPRING is finally here - we will be celebrating with a lovely little give away - something very "springlike" from Vera Bradley! So be sure to stop by here on April 1!

Vicki