There She Grows Again

This recipe comes from Alice and like most soup recipes it’s super easy.  One of our most requested family meals is Potato Soup…it’s great because I generally always have the ingredients on hand and it takes no time to make.  I never bother with peeling the potatoes first.  I just scrub the potatoes and chop them up.  I’m not picky as to what kind of potato I use either: yukon gold, russet, red, fingerling they all taste great.  This is normally a vegetarian soup, but tonight I added cooked, crumbled BACON at the very end just before serving.

To make this soup vegan just replace the butter with olive oil and leave out the cheese.  You can also replace 1/2 the vegetable broth (32-ounces) for 32-ounces soy or regular milk.  If you do add the milk, you’ll want to add it in step #2 below, after you mash or blend part of the soup.

Alice’s Potato Cheese Soup

• 8 medium potatoes (about 3 lbs), cubed
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 3 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 8 cups (64-ounces) vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons butter, melted
• 5 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1-2 cups cheddar cheese
• fresh chives (for garnish)

Directions

1. In a large stock pot or dutch oven, combine potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, broth and salt.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender.
2. Mash the soup slightly using a hand masher or puree half the soup in a blender or food processor.  I like the soup to be slightly chunky and not completely smooth.
3. In a bowl, combine butter, flour, parsley and pepper.  Stir mixture into soup.
4. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly.
5. Remove from heat, add cheese.  Let stand 5 minutes, serve.  Garnish with fresh chives.

Woo Hoo…Leia likes my potato soup!!!