Soup's On

Soup is a lot like a family. Each ingredient enhances the others; each batch has its own characteristics; and it needs time to simmer to reach full flavor.
Marge Kennedy

I have a friend with whom I share a variety of things. Our birthday's are one day apart, we have many mutual friends, our husband's names are William, we attend the same church, we both belong to the same bunco club, and we spend Wednesday evenings together doing our favorite thing. Every Wednesday, we have a bowl (sometimes more) of soup and watch horror movies. Oh another thing we have in common, our husbands couldn't stand horror movies. When we can't find a showplace showing our favorite genre, I make the soup and she brings a DVD and we enjoy at home. No husbands allowed-but they didn't mind or complain. Another commonality, our husbands were soup lovers as well. So, they would benefit from our one fetish with leftovers. I could lie and say our "only" but I could be exposed by those that know me. Don't worry this isn't a critique of our choice of movies, it's about my recipes for homemade soup.

I'll do this in parts (avoiding the explanation in follow ups) starting with my most requested soup:

Potato Soup (low fat - although it doesn't have to be)

8 potatoes-cubed

1 large onion-chopped

1 carrot-grated

2 stalks celery-chopped

2 cloves garlic-shopped

2 TBSP chopped parsley

1 can low fat evaporated milk (doesn’t have to be low fat)

6 cups liquid-combination chicken broth & water (I used 4 cups broth, 2 cups water, but half broth and half water is good)

S&P to taste

¼ cup butter

Sauté onion, celery, carrot in butter, in large soup pot.

Add remaining ingredients and cook until potatoes are soft. Puree half the soup in blender and return to soup pot. May thicken with corn starch or instant potatoes (although I have never had to thicken after returning puree to the pot).

We enjoy with garlic breadsticks followed by a scary movie (not required)

Enjoy!!!!