Baked Potato soup: Yum!

It was my turn to cook our Monday night family dinner -- a weekly tradition that gets us together with two of our children and their spouses. Monday night dinners are sacrosanct -- you better have a real good reason for not attending.

This week I wanted to try something new, and Baked Potato Soup sounded so warm and inviting. It was a hit, and something I plan on making over and over again. At at 7 Weight Watchers PointsPlus per serving, I think it's a diet bargain. For our group of six, I doubled the recipe -- and it all went.

BAKED POTATO SOUP 1 large garlic bulb, 1/4-inch-slice cut off top
3 lbs. uncooked potatoes, rinsed, pierced with a fork (about 6 large baking potatoes)
6 slices uncooked turkey bacon
4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 Tblsp. fresh thyme, chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
6 Tblsp. reduced-fat sour cream
6 Tblsp. low-fat shredded cheddar cheese
6 Tbsp scallion(s), sliced
* Preheat oven to 400ºF. Wrap entire garlic bulb tightly in foil; place garlic and potatoes in oven. (You do not need to put them on a pan; they can go right on an oven rack.)
* Bake garlic until soft when squeezed, about 45 minutes; remove from oven and let cool. Continue baking potatoes until tender when pierced, about 15 minutes more; let potatoes stand until cool enough to handle.
* Meanwhile, cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until browned, about 6 minutes. Place bacon on paper towels to drain off any fat; chop bacon.
* Unwrap garlic and squeeze pulp from bulb with hands into a large saucepan. Peel potatoes and add to saucepan; mash with a potato masher until smooth. Gradually stir in broth, thyme, salt and pepper until blended; place saucepan over medium heat and cook until hot, stirring occasionally, about 5 to 10 minutes.
* Spoon about 1 1/3 cups of soup into each of 6 soup bowls. Top each with 1 tablespoon of sour cream, 1 tablespoon of cheese, 1 rounded tablespoon of bacon and 1 tablespoon of scallions. Grind fresh pepper over top if desired. Makes 6 servings.

Super foods

The Web site Everyday Health just posted a list of a baker's dozen of the most powerful super foods. They admit that if you ask 10 nutritionists for their own lists, you will get 10 different lists. But this list, the site claims, is a good place to start.

I have to admit that I love lists. It might be my short attention span, but lists are easy to read and stick with me longer that something I read in paragraph form.

Because this post would be entirely too long if I listed all the foods, wrote about what www.everydayhealth.com had to say, and added my own thoughts, I have decided to publish the the list of foods today, and then for the next 13 weeks, I will focus on each one in Wednesday's Pick of the Week. I cannot wait to get to week 12 to write about my favorite food, red wine. I never looked at red wine as a favorite food. Now this is great news!

The list:

1. Avocados
2. Apples
3. Blueberries
4. Cabbage
5. Fish and fish oil
6. Garlic
7. Mushrooms
8. Almonds
9. Eggs
10. Flax seeds
11. Pomegranates
12. Red Wine
13. Dark chocolate