Potato Soup - with bacon and cheese

2oz. crumbled bacon

You can start with a few strips of raw bacon, or the pre-packaged crumbles like I used here. Heat the finely chopped or crumbled bacon in a heavy 4-5 quart pot. When nicely browned, scoop out the pieces and set aside for later. Add butter, more bacon grease or EVOO if needed. Then sauté the following chopped vegetables:

2 carrots

4 celery stalks

1 red mini pepper

1-2c onion and shallot

2# scrubbed Yukon Gold potatoes

When everything starts sizzling, add a little water, stir and continue until a couple cups of water have been added. Add the following then simmer, covered for an hour.

4 c water 

3 bay leaves

1T ground cumin

2T chicken soup base

Cool the soup for 20 minutes, remove the bay leaves and mash with a potato masher. Stir in:

1 can cream of crimini-shiitake mushroom soup

4oz. grated strong cheese

4 chopped green onions

the crumbled bacon

Check the flavors and make adjustments needed in the flavor. Serve with crispy crackers. . .Lin

Potato Soup with Spicy Chicken Sausage

I got home from the lake earlier this morning. After getting everything settled, I surveyed the food I brought home. Not much. I don't want to shop right now, but I wanted to make a pot of soup. I have some beautiful potatoes, 2 carrots, 4 stalks of celery, garlic and, amazingly, I had the foresight to leave 1 onion here! Mmmm, sounds like A Potato Soup Kinda Day!

I checked the freezer to see what I could add for texture, flavor and protein. I had two 5-packs of chicken sausage from Sam's Club. Perfect! I decided to use 2 of the honey-habenaro-montery-jack-chicken sausages. I began by chopping and sautéing this first group:

2-3T EVOO

4 stalks celery

2 med. carrots

1/4 onion

3c cold fresh water

When these are sizzling, add 1c of the water. Cover, stir occasionally and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.

. . . . NOTE: I did NOT use the can of Campbell's soup . . . .

2# scrubbed potatoes

Slice the potatoes and stir them in now. Cover and bring everything back to a simmer for 15 minutes. Use a potato masher to give all these simmering vegetables a rough mash. Stir in the remaining 2c of water, bring it once again to a simmer. Add the remaining chopped-sliced ingredients, and seasonings, listed below. 

3/4 onion
3 big cloves of garlic

1t sugar

1T chicken Better Than Bouillon
6.5oz. precooked chicken sausage

Simmer, covered for just a couple minutes longer. Stir, turn off the heat, cover and let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

This turned out so well!
Perfect for a cool, drizzly-foggy, fall day. . .Lin