Stick to your Ribs Potato Soup

I have always loved Potato Soup & have been making it since I was tall enough to reach the stove. Mom's belief was if you were tall enough to be able to see into a tall pot while standing on a chair next to the stove (not a safe practice...do not try this at home) , you were the newest cook in the house. I remember on my 9th birthday my mother asked what I wanted for dinner that day. I told her & a few hours later found myself in the kitchen on my birthday making pork chops, mac & cheese & corn. Anyway I digress. On to the Potato Soup!

First to go in the big ol' pot is the bacon. I like to use about a half pound of bacon. (Sorry, I am not counting calories or making a heart healthy dish here. I am going for flavor) I let my bacon just start to get crispy & add chopped onion to that. Ahh the smell of bacon & onion cooking together throughout the house just screams "Something yummy is being made"!  Ok so I got the bacon & onion to pose together right before the bacon went into the pot 

Quite the couple!

After the onion starts to get translucent I add a 1/2 gallon of milk then fill the  1/2 gallon jug half way with water & add that. Let it get just to boiling point & reduce heat to simmer. Don't want that milk to scorch. Stir frequently during this process.

While that was going on I chopped up this stuff.

I used five potatoes & made small cubes out of them. Be sure to wash them good first. Sometimes I remove the skin, today I did not. Add these while the your milk is heating. I like to cook my potatoes with the soup & not before adding cause the starches help with the flavor.

I used eleven baby carrots & chopped them up. I am not a real big cooked carrot fan but the Hubs is so these are all for him. If I get a carrot while ladling soup for myself....it gets dumped back into the pot.  Remember to stir the soup.

I decided to chop about 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes to add to the soup. If I happen to have sun-dried tomatoes in the fridge, I use them in darned near everything.

  

The pic is not real good but this is four chicken bullion cubes just covered with water. I put this in the nuker for a minute & then I can smash up the parts that did not dissolve thus eliminating chasing the bullion cubes down in the soup pot to be sure they dissolve properly. I mean these babies are super glued together or something. Are you feeling my pain here? You can skip this & just add the cubes to the pot if you prefer. I just don't happen to prefer.

Did not get a pic but next I mix about a 1/2 cup of flour into some hot water & add this to the soup pot. Your soup should still be simmering. Now you have to stir more frequently while the flour is thickening the soup. 

I had some fresh kale in the fridge & decided to chop that up mega small removing any thick stems & ribs first.  But before that I had the taste tester, Bandit D. Bunny make sure the kale was good enough for my soup.

I let the soup simmer for an hour or so still stirring often so nothing burns on the bottom of the pot & assuring my soup does not get ruined.

I toasted some sourdough baguette I had in the freezer, slathered it with butter & voila ....I present to you dinner! 

Eat up & enjoy! 

I ended up freezing half of this soup for dinner at a later date. The Hubs came home, saw this & fell in love with me all over again.

I am thankful for the Drive Thru Convenience Store in my area that had the milk I forgot at the store the day before saving me from having to change out of my skull lounge pants & for my kale freshness tester. Oh & for large plastic butter tubs to store & freeze soup in.   

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