Christmas Eve Dinner - Prep for Cheesy Chicken and Potato Soup

As I type this, the remains of a mirepoix simmer on the stove. The rest of the mirepoix has been ladeled over 3 chickens in 2 crockpots to cook on low overnight.

I'm adapting my mother-in-law's family tradition of potato soup at Christmastime. The original recipe, from her mother, called for skim milk and an irrational quantity of non-dairy creamer, which - you guessed it - is loaded with hydrogenated oils. In place of the skim and the non-dairy creamer, I'll use one or both of organic whole milk and/or organic heavy whipping cream.

The one neolithic ingredient of the soup that I'm willing to keep, especially since this recipe is a once-a-year thing, are cheese singles. In my mother-in-law's potato soup making heydey, she probably used Kraft; I'll be using Horizon organic singles for their stripped down ingredient list and smooth meltability.

For the mirepoix, I simmered salted Kerrygold butter, diced celery, diced white onions, diced carrots, halved mushrooms, minced parsley, and minced chives. Are you supposed to slow cook parsley and/or chives? I'm not sure, but I had a load of these fresh on hand because tomorrow I'm making AndreAnna's Grain-Free Savory Country Biscuits and at my grocery store you must buy about 10 times as much of the fresh parsley and chives as I'm planning to use in the biscuits. My extra bits of fresh celery and parsley have gone into a freezer bag for a future batch of broth or stock (see tips on making your own broth and stock here, and also here).

So, the to-do list for tomorrow, before we feed a crowd of 8 adults and 2 children dinner:

• Grain-Free Savory Country Biscuits - in my convection toaster oven, the Christmas gift from my generous parents
• Finish the Cheesy Chicken and Potato Soup - Remove 3 cooked chickens from the crockpots. Tear off the slow-cooked chicken meat into hearty chunks, add back into the broth in the crock pots. Add 1/2" cubes of potatoes to slow cook for a few hours more. Just before serving, add singles and stir to melt, along with by any cream or milk necessary.

I emailed tomorrow night's guests shamelessly soliciting primal-compatible indulgences for dessert and they gladly delivered, so dessert will be: nuts, chocolate, clementines. Yay for crockpot cooking and crowdsourcing making a (more or less) primal Christmas Eve a simpler task!

How are YOU adapting your Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebration food to be more paleo / primal / gluten free / grain free / sugar free? If you're blogging about your adaptations, feel free to add your link!