Holiday Potato Soup

I did some research on an old cookbook that I own and stumbled across some interesting articles about US presidents of the past. I recall viewing a news clip about Walter Scheib the executive chef at the White House during the Clinton and Bush administrations. He had been discussing what types of food he served the first families and he mentioned the women were more adventurous than the men were and the women preferred to eat healthy. Chelsea decided to go vegetarian in her senior year of high school and I got the impression it threw off the chef's menu a bit. I had to chuckle because Walter Scheib said Hillary was in a bad mood one day and asked him to make her some fajitas. She said: "Sometimes good is better than nutritional."

I am taking advantage of the holidays to give you a "good" loaded potato soup recipe that I dreamed up! I was happy the first time around it was perfect, well . . . maybe not so perfect, I made it from gold potato's and I was not happy with the color or texture, so I used russet this time and blended the potato's. You can have them simple or loaded, either way is very good. Let's get started!

Ingredients

You might feel a little less guilty if you make the sour cream and chicken stock from scratch, reducing the bad ingredients that aren't good for you. Besides, the homemade recipes are worth the extra calories! Here are a couple of good recipes: https://www.instructables.com/id/Chicken-Broth/
https://www.instructables.com/id/3-STEPS-TO-REAL-SOUR-CREAM-WITHOUT-MILKING-THE-COW/

4 Cups homemade chicken stock or organic chicken stock
4 Large russet potato's (chopped)
1 Chopped yellow onion
1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 Cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2 Green onions for garnish
7-8 Thick slices cooked crisp, crumbled bacon
1 Cup cream
1 Cup sour cream
3 Sprigs fresh Thyme
2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons ground pepper corn
3 Minced garlic cloves
2 Tablespoons flour
1 T bacon grease
2 T Butter
Squash used for decorative bowl optional
1 Tablespoon Olive oil if using the squash bowl optional
Recipe yields 10 cups

Utensils:

mixing bowls, spoons, large sauce pan , skillet, knifes, ladle, cutting board, colander,thongs, whisk,measuring cups/spoons, mixer or food processor, and cheese grater.

Saute

Saute the garlic and onion in the bacon grease until the onion is translucent.
Add flour to make roux.
Add 1 cup of the chicken broth to this mixture slowly, stirring well.

Cook

Add remaining broth
Add potato's
Stir well.
Add Thyme
Salt
Pepper
Cook over medium heat until potato's are fork tender
Remove Thyme sprigs

Blend

Place a colander over a large bowl to catch the broth.
Put the broth back into the stock pot.
Pour potato's into a mixing bowl or food processor (reserving 2 cups for a chunky soup if desired) and blend well.
Add sour cream, cream, and butter.
Blend until smooth.

Re-heat

Add creamed potato's to broth and thoroughly mix.
Re-heat until hot.

Prepare Squash

Wash and dry squash.
Remove the top section using a serrated knife to make a lid.
Scoop out the seeds and stringy sections of the squash bowl and lid.
Rub the lid edge and the rim of the squash bowl with olive oil to prevent the edges from curling.

Garnish

Pour the soup into the bowls.
Garnish with onion, bacon, cheddar and Parmesan cheese.

Sunshiine's Final Thoughts

Some may ask how many calories are in the soup, just tell them not to worry about it. Hillary and Sunshiine say: "it is OK to have "good" over nutritional every once in a while.

I want to wish everyone a happy holiday and thank you for stopping by.

I wish to thank Instructables and our sponsors for all the great contest!

Sunshiine