My go-to recipe for chemo days

Throughout my entire treatment — a road I’m still traveling — potato soup still tastes good.

When I think of soup, I think of my mom.

Like any good Southerner, whenever mom couldn’t fix it, she fed you. Because it was hearty, filling and affordable, potato soup was always her go-to recipe if we were sick.

Forty years later, it’s become one of my family’s favorites year-round.

For me, potato soup has been a lifesaver while undergoing chemo. Since treatments started, many foods have, quite frankly, tasted like cardboard because of the effects the drugs take on your body and taste buds. I love food, so I’m pleased to say that nasty side effect is temporary.

Thankfully throughout my entire treatment — a road I’m still traveling — potato soup still tastes good.

This recipe is almost exactly how mom made it. I did make some adjustments, though, like using milk instead of cream because the richness of the cream seems to bother my stomach. I also use the lower sodium cheese and avoid smoked bacon.

One of the nice things about this recipe is you make it in the crock pot. This works out great for my long chemo days because dinner is ready by the time we get home. Just have to add the finishing touches and eat up.

I hope you enjoy it.

— Velvet Baxley, diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2017