During the holidays, most Americans think of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and green bean casserole when choosing Thanksgiving vegetable recipes for the big Thanksgiving Day dinner. However, not all Thanksgiving vegetable recipes must be side dishes for thanksgiving dinner. For cooks like me who prefer to serve the big holiday meal at dinner time instead of lunch time, I end up having to prepare something for lunch. Because my Thanksgiving (or even Christmas) dinner is loaded with a lot of yummy calories, I like to serve something light for lunch. So, if you, like me, are looking for some simple Thanksgiving vegetable recipes, I highly suggest the following recipe for potato soup.

Ingredients

• 2 large potatoes
• 1 small can of low sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup of nonfat skim milk
• 1/3 cup of nonfat powdered milk
• 1 cup of cold water
• 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons of real bacon pieces
• 1 tablespoon of parsley
• 1 tablespoon of garlic salt
• 1 tablespoon of onion powder
• 1 dash of dried onion flakes

Instructions

1. Combine the nonfat powdered milk, flour, and cold water in large soup pot.
2. Stir until the flour and powered milk dissolve in the water.
3. Add the chicken broth and skim milk to the pot.
4. Stir well.
5. Add the bacon pieces, parsley, garlic salt, onion powder, and onion flakes to the pot.
6. Stir all the ingredients together well.
7. Wash the potatoes. Do not peel the potatoes, but do remove any potato eyes or green spots.
8. Dice the potatoes into small bite-sized pieces.
9. Add the potatoes to the pot.
10. Heat on medium to high until the soup boils and the potatoes are tender.
11. Serve hot with saltine crackers or bread.
12. Refrigerate any unused portion.

My potato soup is a great recipe to serve as a light lunch before the big dinner on Thanksgiving Day. Additionally, this soup is great to serve during any other time of year but during the cold winter months especially. With so few calories per serving (and for the entire soup in general), my potato soup is one of only a few Thanksgiving vegetable recipes that will help you watch your calories without sacrificing flavor. Plus, as a liquidly soup, my potato soup will fill you up without weighing you down. So, bon appétit and happy lunching before the big Thanksgiving Day dinner!

Image Credits

Potatoes: http://www.freeimages.com/photo/1121258