Potato Soup

I love, love, love, love, LOVE potato soup. I think this dates back to when I was little and my Nana (great grandmother) would make soups and such by the gallons and "put it up" in the freezer. We used to always have these little plastic containers (the really cheap kind you get at the dollar store) stacked in our deep freezer with potato soup.

We also had containers and containers of peaches and strawberries. We ate the peaches and strawberries frozen. She "seasoned" them with a little (or a lot) of sugar before she "put them up" and that sugar sunk to the bottom before they were frozen. That was the best part, when you got to the bottom of the frozen tub of peaches or strawberries and there was the really sweet, icy mush. Mmmm.

Nana's other specialty was pecans. She and Papaw would drive to the pecan farms and buy bags of pecans. Then she would come home and shell and clean them and put them in bags. We always had bags of pecans in the fridge. I don't think we ever bought them at the grocery store. For some time after Nana died, Mom was still pulling out pecans to make her delicious pecan pies and brown sugar cookies. (Both of these recipes are on my to-make list... too bad Ryan doesn't like pecans.)

Okay, so I digressed a bit. Back to the potato soup. I have been wanting to make some myself and came across this recipe from Southern Living. It was on the ad for their yearly cookbook. I gave it a try last night.

6 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 large onion, chopped (1 1/2cups) (I use "sweet onions")
3 (14-ounce) cans of chicken broth with roasted garlic (I used organic free range chicken broth and just added some garlic powder)
1/4 cup butter
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons pepper
1 cup half & half (or whipping cream)
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
1 (8-ounce) container sour cream (optional -- I did not use this)
4 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled (I felt lazy so I didn't do this either)
shredded cheddar cheese

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a 5-quart slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on high 4 hours (or low 8 hours) or until potato is tender.
3. Mash mixture until potatoes are coarsely chopped and soup in slightly thickened; stir in cream, cheese and chives. Top with sour cream, if desired and sprinkle with bacon and cheddar cheese before serving.

I used red potatoes as that is what I had at the house. None were "large" so I just guessed on how many would equal 6-large. When the soup was done, I felt it was too runny. So, I just boiled a few more potatoes and then mashed them up with a potato masher and added them at the end. Of course, I also added more cheese because everything is better with some extra cheese!

I have only "tasted" the results but my co-workers, Erica and Marsh gave it the thumbs up. It made so much I brought some to share at work. I think Nana would be proud!

It's lunch time now so I might go heat some up myself.