Creamy Zucchini Soup—Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café

Fall is in the air, and Aaron’s threatening to light a fire.  It’s a bit too early for that, in my opinion, but due to thyroid issues, he chills a bit easily.  So here we are, staring down the end of garden season with freezes threatening the tender vegetables, and yet we’ve still got an overabundance of zucchini.  The local magazine featured a recipe for creamy zucchini soup that I’ve been wanting to try out, with a couple of modifications to make it more food storage-friendly.   

Creamy Zucchini Soup

2 tablespoons coconut oil*

1 yellow onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

5 cups chopped zucchini

1 quart chicken broth, divided

1 pound russet potatoes, peeled and diced

1/3 cup SOS mix

Salt and pepper, to taste

Dash cayenne pepper, optional

1 ¼ cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided

In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter.  Stir in the onion and cook until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for another minute.  Add the zucchini and stir and cook for 5 more minutes.  Add the potatoes, 3 cups of broth, and soy sauce and stir well.  Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce heat to medium.  Simmer 15-20 minutes, just until the zucchini and potatoes are tender. 

In the meantime, combine the remaining broth and SOS mix and blend until smooth.  Add to the soup when the vegetables are almost done.

Remove pot from heat and blend the soup (in a traditional blender in batches, or with an immersion blender) until smooth.  Stir in 1 cup of the cheese.  Ladle into bowls and top with remaining cheese.

*The original recipe called for butter.  Per the usual, I use coconut oil whenever possible.

Family reviews:  Aaron actually liked it and wants to have it again!  He said it reminded him of potato soup.  A Taste of Home recipe for baked potato soup is my favorite potato soup, but it’s extremely rich, and none of us like the stomach upset that follows.  This creamy zucchini soup, however, has a certain richness of flavor without the calories.  I also liked it.  Buttercup did not care for it.  King of the Picky Eaters (KOTPE) said it was fine.  

Chef’s review:  I was a little concerned that the green flecks from the zucchini would be off-putting.  They were for Aaron, just a little.  We both agreed that it would look a lot better if prepared with yellow zucchini or if the green zucchini were peeled.  It comes together rather quickly and is extremely food storage-friendly. 

Links to related posts:

SOS Mix