The weather is quickly suggesting that soup will be on a lot of our menus for lunch and dinner. Nothing seems to warm us better when we’ve come in out of the cold than that hot cup of delicious soup; the aroma alone will draw us in! Making soup is not as hard as one might think. For the most part, soup is just a few simple ingredients cut up and then thrown into a pot to be cooked. That pot is also where we usually store our homemade soup, making it easy to be taken out, heated, and then served right away.
When you store your soup in smaller containers, you have it available for the following day’s lunch at work, school, or at home. As a special treat take some soup to your neighbor or a homebound friend or loved one to enjoy.
This potato soup recipe takes about one hour start to finish. You can serve it up right away, freeze it, or keep it on hand in your fridge to eat within a day or two. If you freeze your soup, thaw your container slowly in your fridge and reheat it slowly in a pan on the stove or microwave on reheat till heated through. Top off your soup with shredded cheese, and a side of crackers, and enjoy!
Ingredients:
- 5 large potatoes
- 2 green onions
- Dried basil
- Black pepper
- Salt
- Water
- 2-1/2 cups milk (with more if needed)
- Bacon cooked and broken up into pieces for garnishment
- Shredded cheese for garnishment
Directions:
Peel the potatoes then chop them into halves, and then again into fourths. Place the potatoes into a medium sized pan with water covering over them by about a half inch. Add a couple shakes of dried basil flakes over the top, (about 1 Tablespoon).
Finely slice the green onion (Do not use the tops or bottoms of the onion). Add the onions to your pot of potatoes.
Boil the potatoes, onions, and basil on high for about 30 minutes. Remember to keep a close eye on the pot! The potatoes need to be cooked well, and in a quick amount of time, but you don’t want your potatoes to absorb the water too fast. If needed, just reduce the temperature down a little if you see too much water dissipating and going into your potatoes.
Once the potatoes are cooked, use a strainer to drain the water off to just under the level of your cooked potatoes. Add back into the pot any of the potatoes, onions, or basil that have fallen into your strainer while draining.
Add around 2-1/2 cups of milk to your pot. If you need a little more milk to make it soupy, add it in slowly till you have your desired consistency.
Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes gently like you would mash potatoes, but leave some small chunks of potato for your soups texture.
Add salt and pepper to taste. (3 shakes should do it).
Top with bacon and your favorite shredded cheese. Cheddar, Pepper Jack, Monterey Jack and Swiss taste great on this potato soup recipe!
ENJOY! From: “In the Kitchen with Sheryl”
