Hearty Potato Soup

This is the perfect soup for a blizzard - warm and creamy, with lots of potato and bacon pieces. Because of the way the potatoes are cooked you end up with pieces that are fried, caramelized, and steamed, so a soup that could be boring is full of textures and rich flavor. The leftovers are even better than the first day so the recipe makes a lot.

Ingredients:

- 1 pound bacon
- 1-2 medium onions
- potatoes - 6 cups peeled and diced will take about 7 medium potatoes, but if you end up under or over the soup will still be delicious
- 4 cups milk - ideally not skim
- salt
- pepper
- garlic powder

Equipment:

- the biggest soup pot you have with a lid
- knife and cutting board
- basic measuring gear

Peel and dice the potatoes - I try to make my pieces around 1/4" cubed. Try to end up with about 6 cups, and put them in a big bowl covered in water.

Peel and dice the onion(s).

Cut down the bacon into smaller pieces.

Put all the bacon into the soup pot. Fry over low heat until the bacon is ready to eat - the grease will probably get foamy when it's close to being done. Stir it a lot as it's frying. Set a few pieces aside so that whoever gets home before the soup is ready to eat has something to distract themselves with.

Add the onions and keep cooking until the onions are transparent.

Add the potatoes, stir them around.

Put the lid on tightly. Leave it alone for 10 minutes. For real, don't even mess with it.

Remove the lid and give it a stir. Add the 4 cups of milk, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/8 tsp pepper and 1/4 tsp of garlic.

Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes, stirring often.

Taste it and adjust the spices.

Dish up some big bowls of soup, and as soon as the leftovers are cooled a bit box them up and put them in the fridge. This soup is much better as leftovers, so dinner for tomorrow is already done!