Recipe: Creamy Potato Soup

In the Northwest, while it is Spring, it is wet and cold, which is the perfect weather for soup. Last night I decided to make Potato soup. It just sounded good, I had potatoes, I had recently seen a few recipes floating around online. I read a few recipes and then just made it how I wanted. It turned out amazing, and topped with some roasted asparagus and grated white cheddar, took it to another level.

I'm learning to create my own recipes and not always rely on someone else's, though, really, is there any "original" recipe out there anymore? I'm not so sure. Soups are easy to do this with because for the most part, anything goes. 

Ingredients:

1 lb. bacon, chopped
onion, chopped (your desired amount)
2 carrots, peeled and diced
3 celery ribs, diced
6 potatoes (mine were medium, so you may need less), peeled and diced
enough water to cover veggies and potatoes
2 bouillon cubes
salt and pepper to taste
3 Tbs. flour
1 c. milk 
1/2 c. whipping cream

Instructions:

1. In a saucepan, cook bacon and onion together until done...I went for some crisp, some more tender. I was also using thicker bacon. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon. 

2. To saucepan, add carrots and celery and cook for about 10 minutes. Add potatoes and cook for another 5 minutes. 

3. Add enough water to cover the veggies by a couple inches. Add chicken bouillon. Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are just tender...about 10 minutes. ( I used my pampered chef french fry cutter to cut them and then cubed them in to nice small squares). You could also just use chicken broth.

4. Remove about half of mixture and add to blender container. Blend until smooth and add back in to soup. Stir well. 

5. In a separate container, add milk and flour. Add some of hot soup to this mixture, then add back to pan. Stir well. Cook till soup is heated through. Add whipping cream. stir and serve.

We served ours with roasted asparagus and shredded cheese. Yummy! I didn't think ahead of time to make some crusty soup, but that's okay, it was great just as it was.

With Joy UNquenchable,