Potato, Leek, Onion Soup

My office had a pay lunch ($5) today.  It was potato leek soup with cheese toast.  It was great soup.  So good that I wanted more.  I decided to go home and make it for dinner.  I keep making all these wintry things still, not sure why... What came to mind and what I used:

• 4 leeks, rinsed & cleaned well, halved lengthwise then sliced in half rings - white and light green parts only
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons organic extra-virgin olive oil
• 5 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 3 stalks celery with leaves, sliced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 stalks of thyme, tied with kitchen twine
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 cups organic low-sodium chicken stock (Better than Bouillon) 
• 1 can (400 ml) premium organic coconut milk
• Crushed chili flakes, to taste
• Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon Trader Joe's no-salt "21 Seasoning Salute"
• 1 tablespoon dried parley, and for garnish (I thought I had fresh but only had fresh cilantro so used dried.  I debated over that cilantro, but not this time...)

I cleaned, chopped and got all the vegetables ready at the same time.  I let the taters soak in water so they didn't brown until I was ready for them.  This took me about 45 minutes - it was a bit of work and I underestimated it!  The leeks, I blame them...

I sauteed the onion, garlic, chili flakes, celery and leek in the oil until everything was soft.  I seasoned with S&P.  I poured in the broth, thyme bundle, bay leaves, no-salt seasoning, parsley, more S&P and potatoes.  I brought to a medium boil and let simmer - on low, covered until potatoes were soft (about a half hour).  

I removed the bay leaves and thyme.  I poured in the coconut milk and pureed everything together with an immersion blender until smooth (this took longer than I thought - like 10 minutes or so!).  I checked seasoning and served.  I dotted with Cholula hot sauce as well.  If you connect those dots, it says:  "fresh dill would be great in this".    😊

I made my son cheese toast with 2 year aged cheddar as he had to know how good that was with dipping it in the soup.  (I just got a thin slice of crappy cheddar on french bread at work today).  The soup was fine.  Mine had a zip that today's didn't and was also healthy with no dairy and low sodium.  It would have been vegan if not for the chicken stock.  I'm happy to use real potatoes rather than processed food any day of the week, carby or not.. I'm going to guess this soup will be twice as good tomorrow...Mmm... One final note - I'd only used 6 cups of stock next time.  This made a whole full pot of soup.  Good thing it will freeze.