Cream of Spinach Soup from #theprettydish

Welcome to the daily rains in Florida!  Sometimes it rains in the late afternoon.  Other times it is in the evenings.  The great thing about the rain is that now all of our ponds are filled, some swimming pools are actually overflowing, and our lawns are green!  During one rainy day, I turned to The Pretty Dish Cookbook and found a comforting and tasty soup. Cream of Spinach Soup is found on page 132-133 of #theprettydish.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Pinch of crushed red-pepper flakes
• 16 ounces baby spinach, chopped
• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable stock (I used vegetable broth.)
• 1/2 cup full-fat Greek yogurt (I used plain full-fat Greek yogurt.)

Directions:

• In a large pot, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat.  Add the shallots, garlic, salt, black pepper, and red-pepper flakes and stir.  Cook for 5 minutes, or until the shallots are softened.  Stir in the spinach.  Add the stock (broth) and bring the mixture to a boil.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
• Very carefully transfer the mixture to a high-powered blender and blend until smooth.  (You can also use an immersion blender here!)  Return the soup to the pot and heat it over low heat.  Stir in the yogurt right before serving.  Top with a dollop of yogurt and serve with Mary's Crackers.

I made this soup twice.  The first time I used my regular blender (not a high-powered one) and vegetable stock.  I made the soup again mainly because I felt it did not photograph well, although it was tasty.  When I made the soup the second time, I used vegetable broth to lighten the color of the soup and an immersion blender.  I really liked the taste and color of the soup using the vegetable broth and the immersion blender.  I feel that the immersion blender made the soup a lighter, frothier texture.  Instead of making the shoestring fries (which I wish I could have had, but I was trying to stay true to yeast-free living), I had the soup with Mary's Crackers.  

Cream of Spinach Soup

Milo also likes to chill out during rainy days with his toys!

Also, these days are great to curl up with a good book after eating Cream of Spinach Soup.  What are you reading this summer?  These are the books I read in May.  My two favorites were The Light We Lost and The Heart's Invisible Furies.

May Books I Read

I just finished How to Walk Away and am now reading My Oxford Year.  I really enjoyed How to Walk Away and I really like My Oxford Year, too!  I don't want to spoil them for you!

Here's to summer rains, summer cooking and summer reading!!