Special Potato Soup

Today, I'm linking up this December post for Kelly's Korner "Show Us Your Life" series on soups!  This recipe is one of my all-time faves. :)

With the cooler temps we have been experiencing in our area, good warm comfort food just seems to always sound good!  I've made chili more in the past few weeks than I have ever made in my life and this potato soup recipe was another yummy remedy to my comfort food craving.  I mentioned it in Friday's post and described how it was one of those meals I remember eating so vividly during my childhood.  The recipe makes a lot, so you will definitely have leftovers.  We enjoyed ours with some saltine crackers, but I think a loaf of crusty french bread would be a perfect addition as well.

This recipe originally appeared in Southern Living years ago and has been a family favorite ever since.  I tried to find it on their current website to link back, but didn't see it listed.

Ingredients:

2 stalks celery, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped (Our HEB carries these great plastic containers of pre-chopped celery and onion together, so I just used that!)
2 T. butter, melted
6 medium potatoes, cubed (peeling and cubing the potatoes was the most time consuming part!)
2 carrots, sliced (I used a bag of baby carrots and just put those in whole)
3 c. water
5 chicken-flavored bouillon cubes
3/4 tsp. seasoned salt
1/2 tsp. dried whole thyme
1/2 tsp. rosemary, crushed
Dash of garlic powder
Dash of pepper
2 c. milk
1 c. (4 oz.) shredded Cheddar cheese

1.  Cook celery and onion in butter in a large soup pot until tender.  

2.  Add potatoes, carrots, water, bouillon and seasonings 

3.  Cover pot and simmer about 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

4.  Remove from heat, and mash vegetables with a potato masher.  

5.  Add milk and cheese 

6.  Cook, stirring constantly, until cheese is melted.  

Yield:  10 cups

It is so simple and tastes so good!!  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do! :)