Soup at our house

We love soup at our house.  It's warm, can easily feed a crowd, a good way to get in veggies,  and has always been a loaves and fishes supper for us (stretches out what looks like nothing in the fridge). 


 However, it cleans us out of bread (we love toast too), and I wanted to find a way to make it stretch even farther and fill up the hollow bellies of some hungry menfolk I happen to know. ;-)


So what do we use?  Mashed Potatoes.


I mash up some red or yellow potatoes with low-fat cream cheese, milk and butter, then put a good dollop in the bottom of our bowls and top with the soup.  The combo eventually turns the soup into a thick gravy-like chowder (yum!), making it an easier thing for little bear cubs to keep on a spoon.  This is especially good with chicken soup but we have also enjoyed it with tomato-based soups.  The mashed potatoes are also a good way to stretch a small amount of leftover soup.


We still like to have soup by itself with bread on occasion.  But we're always coming up with excuses to have it with mashed potatoes. :-)