There is almost nothing as comforting as potato soup! It tastes slightly like mashed potatoes combined with the deliciousness of a baked potato – sour cream, bacon, cheese. Mmm. Is there anything more homey than that?

Surprisingly, potato soup isn’t that hard to make – it’s just a matter of using the right ingredients and learning how to properly thicken things! Potatoes have gotten a reputation as being bad for us, but they are very healthy when eaten in moderation. Mostly, their skins are excellent sources of a multitude of vitamins. In this recipe, I like to keep the skins on for this reason!

Easy Potato Soup

You’ll need…

• 2-3 russet potatoes, diced into bite size pieces
• about 1/4 of an onion, diced
• about 3 tablespoons of butter
• about 2-3 tablespoons of flour
• about 2 cups of milk
• about 1 cup of chicken stock
• about 3-4 tablespoons of Philadelphia Cooking Creme OR cream cheese
• about 2 tablespoons of sour cream
• 2 slices of turkey bacon, diced
• about 1/4 cup of shredded cheese (your favorite – I like smoked mozzarella!)

How to Make It…

For the potatoes, you can wrap them in foil (after scrubbing them!) and bake them for about 1 hour at 400 degrees. Or, you can dice them into pieces and roast them in the oven for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Choose what you have time for! (Baking the potatoes and then dicing allows the potatoes to break down in the soup slightly.)

In a small skillet, cook turkey bacon until warm and slightly brown on both sides. Remove from heat and when cooled, dice into small pieces.

Once the potatoes are cooked slightly, chop onion and add to a soup pot with a bit of nonstick cooking spray. Cook the onions until they are just translucent. Add bacon and potatoes. Add butter and allow to melt. When the butter is melted, add the flour and stir. You’ll want to cook the flour for a few minutes to remove the mealy taste of it.

After about 4-5 minutes of stirring, add your milk and chicken stock. Stir and allow to thicken slightly. You’ll want to bring the liquid to a very low simmer! Add Philly cooking creme or cream cheese, as well as the sour cream. Stir to combine. Add the shredded cheese and allow to melt and combine. Allow to simmer for another few minutes and then serve!

(If your soup doesn’t thicken up much with just the flour and butter, you can combine about 2 tablespoons of corn starch in a small bowl with about 2 tablespoons of water. Stir to combine and add to the simmering soup. Stir rapidly and this should thicken it up a bit more!)

Note: This recipe serves about 3-4 people. It can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for about 2-3 days!

Brr! I know just about everyone is with me when I say it’s freaking cold.

After shoveling out our cars, going sledding on stolen cafeteria trays, and launching snowball wars, the only foods that can possibly satisfy our mad hunger must fulfill the following three adjectives: tasty, fatty, and hot! Today, pull out the stops pots and enjoy my favorite winter recipe.

Cheesy Potato Soup

Recipe (serves 4):

2 cups mozzarella cheese

1 cup instant mashed potato flakes

1 cup half-and-half

2 cans prepared chicken broth

4-6 pieces of cooked bacon (optional)

2 sliced roasted red potatoes (optional)

Instructions:

1.     Put all of your ingredients (except ½ cup of the cheese) in a soup pot and mix them together. Bring the pot to a boil over medium heat and cook for about three minutes or until it thickens up — keep stirring while you cook!

2.     Top your soup with the extra cheese, and the bacon and sliced potatoes if desired.

Dying to learn how to make gazpacho? Want to see vegan, gluten-free, or diabetic recipes? Drop your suggestions in the comment box and I’ll see what I can cook up!

Need more recipes? Get more awesome and yummy Intro to Cooking right here!

If you find yourself without the time to cook 3 meals a day, 7 days a week, these dishes are perfect for you. Get in the kitchen once and eat for days.

Door Number 1: Soup

Soup is a classic for good reason. It’s quick to make, it stays well in the fridge or the freezer, and it’s extremely simple to cook up a giant batch and use it for meal after meal. Soup is also incredibly versatile—in almost any soup recipe, you can add or subtract basically whatever you want (don’t like celery? Try some zucchini!) and it will still turn out tasting great. Plus, you don’t even know how much better it is than soup in the can until you’ve made it yourself and experienced the difference. A good starting point is this potato soup, which is All Recipes’s highest-rated soup recipe.

Door Number 2: Rice

My personal favorite thing to do with rice is to cook a huge pan of fried rice with tons of vegetables and bits of chicken or tofu, and then keep the leftovers for my lunches all week. Following this recipe will give you great Chinese fried rice. If you prefer a more Indian flava, leave out the soy sauce, sub the sesame oil with another type of oil (canola or mustard is good), and add turmeric, cumin, chili powder, and pepper.

Making a really big pot of rice and then keeping the plain leftovers can also give you a quick base for almost any meal down the road. To get the most out of your rice, try soaking it in clean cold water for 20-30 minutes before you boil it.

Door Number 3: Casserole

In Minnesota we call this “hot dish,” but whatever you call it, it’s the same thing: the ultimate American comfort food. The definition is so nebulous that it can cover practically anything—chicken and rice, macaroni and cheese, lasagna, etc. Whichever you choose, they are easy to make and big enough to last you through the week. I’m not a fan of tuna, but this tuna casserole was developed by a college student, so it already passes the “quick, easy, and edible” test. And it does look really good…. Mmmm.

So there you have it, ladies. No more wasting money on carry-out, or eating a bag of Doritos for dinner; now you can cook one time and be set for the week ahead. Just heat up those leftovers, and dig in!

[Image courtesy of anthearowe.com.]

So make this easy, delicious (vegetarian) recipe and cuddle up on your couch for a cozy evening in. Stay warm! Happy Autumn!

You’ll’s Be Needing:

6 cups of potaters (diced)

3 cans of vegetable broth

4 cups of whole milk

1/2 tsp of black pepper (ground)

1 cup of onion (chopped)

6 tbsp of butter (melted)

3 stalks of celery (diced)

4 cubes of vegetable bouillon

Here’s How’s Ya Does Its:

(1) Boil the potatoes, onion, and celery in two of the cups of vegetable broth. Cook for fifteen minutes.

(2) Drain the stuff but keep the liquid.

(3) Mix said liquid with the milk and put over medium heat. Stir until it’s thick.

(4) Separately, mix the flour and butter.

(5) Stir every single thing into the broth-and-milk mixture.

(6) Voila! Potato soupski!!

[Image courtesy of www.bbcgoodfood.com]