Simply Perfect Potato Soup

Why is it there is a  15 pound bag of potatoes on the kitchen island?  Well, the 5 pound bag didn't seem to have enough potatoes in it.  The 10 pound bag was $1.99.  What a deal!  Except...what's this, 15 pounds is $1.79!!  Less than 10 pounds?  Can't pass that up!

That was about a month ago.  The potatoes are fabulous and fresh out of the ground.  Right away I gave 6 to MNDeb.  I have baked two for dinners and used another two to cut up and cook with onions and an egg in the mornings.  I took a quick count and found still a dozen remaining.  Time for another recipe. Although as it turned out it only took two potatoes to make the 4 cups.

Fast and very good.  MNDeb and I had it with a little cheddar cheese shredded on top.  Just a little.

Simply Perfect Potato Soup

Adapted from AllRecipes(dot)com

4 cups peeled and diced potatoes      1/2 cup diced celery 1/2 cup finely chopped onion 1 cup diced cooked ham 3 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste 1 teaspoon black pepper* 5 tablespoons butter 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 cups milk

	Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, ham and water in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the chicken broth, salt and pepper.
	In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk so as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.
.	Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through. Serve immediately.

*This might seem like a lot of pepper but I thought it was perfect.