Home made potato soup...get your bibs ready..

< OOOOOOHHHHHHHHH MY!!! This is one of my favorite things to make - I heart soup. This is a soup that will stick with you, but is not heavy. Its a soup that is filling but not to the point of nausea AND its got flavor like no other. Well, that's what the Milk Man says but I sleep with him so he's kind of biased, but make and figure it out for yourself.

Heidi's Potato Soup... yes I am taking all the credit for this, cuz I thunked it up meself. Take a pot like this one... its older than I am but it works perfect.

Then I take ham... I usually use ham left over from a meal, but I didn't have any so I used this instead... I don't like anything that is 'lean', but this worked ok..


Most times I use the left overs from a meal that we have ham for, this is if I don't make pea soup with the left overs. When I do that I take the bone and whatever ham is left over, put enough water on it just so its covered and boil it until the meat is off of the bone. Then I take the bone out and add potatoes to that water. I think a bone in meat makes more flavor, but that's just the cough syrup talking-don't listen to me... anyway...
Cut up your meat into little pieces, just as much or as little as you want. You will find out the I measure very little, if anything when I make it - sorry if that throws you into convulsions but I am allergic to measuring cups.. its a well known fact, me being allergic an all...

Also cut up as much onion as you want/like and throw that in there as well - I use a whole nice sized onion....


Then I start with the potatoes... I peel them, cut them up and put them in until I have as many as I want... again no measuring but I have a picture that shows how much I put into the pot if that helps... I hope it helps...

When this is done, I cover them with water - but only enough to cover them. DO NOT FILL THE POT UP WITH WATER!!! Your eyes will swell shut if you do - I promise... not really.

While this is cooking I fry a pound of bacon till its crispy and save the fat.

Then take your mushrooms, wash them, dice them and get ready to fry them in your bacon fat..

Before you fry them, take some minced garlic - fresh or jarred - and throw that in the bacon grease and warm it up, then add your chopped mushrooms.

Now, when your potatoes are done - when I say done I mean DONE. Not just forkable - then I add some of this liquid gold...

After I add the cream, about 1pt I let this simmer for a while - then I add the bacon or not - Sometimes I don't add the bacon till the very last 1/2 hour because is gets mushy - but sometimes I do.. just depends on my time frame and my mood... BUT the secret ingredient to this is this little herb that I have never been able to find in a store. I grow this myself so that's why I have it. Its called Lovage - I am providing a link because I think its VERY important to read about what you eat before you eat it. Especially herbs and various 'natural' things. When you first go to this link, it looks like an ad and it is, but scroll down and READ IT ALL! Then decide if its something that you want to try to use. Its delicious that I promise - its a little bit like celery, but not as 'woody' as celery.. You don't need a lot of it for the flavor to take over, just a couple of little leaves and it enhances the soup without over powering it. The stalk is usable also, but like I said I only used a tiny bit, less than 2 tsp chopped and i dried the rest of what I harvested.

http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_lovage.htm

After you add this let it simmer for about another 1/2 hr or more. It will get thicker the longer you let it simmer - Its truly a delicious thing - one of my favorites for a rainy day. I make onion cheese biscuits with it most times and they are GOOOOOD too. I have also added roasted red bell peppers and its to die for... yum...almost as good as a Sunday afternoon nap.
Here is the end result...
These pictures are in the wrong order sorry...adding bacon
adding lovage..
Its nice an creamy and thick.... but not over cooked.. I used to use 'thickening' but found doing this much more tasty and satisfying..and pretty, its very pretty in real life...