I have a recipe for this awesome soup...it is soooo yummy. It has potatoes...a no-no, but was wondering if anyone had any ideas about substitutions and also what the carb count would be. Here it is:

2 medium bulbs garlic
1 tbsp. Olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 medium potatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped (substitutes??)
1 1/2 lb. butternut squash, peeled and coarsely chopped
6 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp. fresh tyme (1 tsp. dried)
1/2 whipping cream (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Plaqce the garlic bulbs on a baking sheet and bake at 350 F for 45 min. remove from oven, cut the tops off and gently sqeeze the cloves out.

Heat oil in a pan. Add the onions and cook over medium heat until they are soft, DO NOT BROWN.

Add garlic, potatoes, stck and bay leaves and cook at slow boil for about 25 minutes. Remove bay leaves.

Puree the soup in batches and return to the pot. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then add tyme, cream, salt and pepper.

serves 6-8

Please let me know if a sub for the potatoes would make this soup acceptable. I just started Atkins today and I can't wait to be healthy!!

You can sub turnips or cauliflower for potatoes. I prefer turnips. After they are cooked in the soup, you can hardly tell the difference.

half a cup of butternut squash is about 7 gr carbs after fiber according to my counts book, so I'd sub out the squash too.

If you go back to the Atkins book and look at the allowable vegetables, you'll likely get great ideas for things to subsitute. Like notsosweet says, cauliflower is a great addition to soup. Broccoli is good too, but it tends to turn soups green.

If you want to "beef" that soup up a bit, but in some meat to add protein. Use chicken if you use chicken stock, or plain old water will do. So will cubed beef; cheap cuts simmered will get soft. Scoop out the meat before blending the vegetables.

BTW, squash has become my mainstay for soups. I buy the frozen cubed stuff because it is really quick and easy. In the winter I make a pot of soup every weekend. It's a Saturday morning ritual to get a pot of soup going. And I often eat soup for breakfast.

Good luck. You look like you are going to have fun experimenting!