Rutabaga Cheese Soup

It took me 3 hours (plus a bit of help with rutabagas from hubby) to make dinner the first time I made this as I was also making my Zucchini Cake from scratch, but this adventure was so worth it. Delicious!!!

This soup was a true experiment. I love potato cheese soup but potatoes are a *no-go* for me these days. I’d heard rumor you could swap out rutabagas for bakers so I figured I’d give it a try. A couple people actually laughed at me upon hearing my idea.

Part of the reason dinner took so long is that I had never purchased a rutabaga, let alone peeled and cooked with them before. In fact, I didn’t even really know what they looked like until I did this research (research time included in my cooking time above – See, I’m saving you all that time cuz your soup won’t take nearly that long!!!). My biggest fear was that they would taste bitter, but that fear was, thankfully, not realized.

Rutabaga Cheese Soup Recipe

Ingredients

• 5 rutabagas
• 8 cups unsweetened almond milk
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup almond flour
• 12 oz cooked bacon bits (see my Bacon Bits recipe)
• 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, freshly shredded
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. Peel rutabagas, then slice (be sure to start at the edge – not the middle – with a sharp knife so that your knife doesn’t get stuck… these buggers are hard).
2. Fill a large stock pot about 1/3 of the way with water, then add 5 sliced rutabagas and bring to a boil on stovetop.
3. Cover and cook over medium-high heat for about 25 mins until rutabaga is fork-tender, then drain and set slices aside.
4. In the same large stock pot, melt 1 cup butter over medium-high heat.
5. Stir in 1 cup flour, a bit at a time, until smooth and bubbling.
6. Slowly add 8 cups milk and 1/2 tsp pepper, continually stirring.
7. Add 1 tsp xanthan gum, just a very little sprinkling bit at a time (if you dump it, it’ll clump!), continually stirring, until sauce has thickened. This part takes a while, but the roux will thicken a bit with time.
8. Add rutabaga slices back into the pot, stirring constantly, until soup begins to bubble.
9. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 mins.
10. Stir in 1 cup sour cream.
11. Slowly add 2 cups cheese, a bit at a time, stirring until fully melted.
12. Stir in bacon bits.

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 10
Amount per serving
Calories	491
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 38.5g	49%
Saturated Fat 17.9g	89%
Cholesterol 95mg	32%
Sodium 1060mg	46%
Total Carbohydrate 20.3g	7%
Dietary Fiber 7.6g	27%
Total Sugars 10.9g
Protein 18g
Vitamin D 1mcg	5%
Calcium 517mg	40%
Iron 2mg	13%
Potassium 1001mg	21%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calorie a day is used for general nutrition advice.

#Keto #LowCarb