When I was putting together the list of soup recipes for yesterday’s post I couldn’t find my mom’s potato soup.  Surely I had shared that here.  Well apparently not. So here it is.

My mom like to make this on Sunday afternoon and we would have a bowl before going back to church for evening service.  Keep in mind we never measured our ingredients for this soup.  We just used what we had on hand.  Now let’s make that soup.

 
1. First gather your ingredients. You will need 1 medium potato for each serving of soup, 1 small onion, 2 ribs of celery and milk or your favorite substitute (I use almond milk).

2. Make sure your kitchen helper is ready. Isn’t she cute?

3. Next chop your ingredients. I do not peel my potatoes but you can if you want. Cut potatoes into bite sized pieces, slice the celery and chop the onion.

4.  Cover potatoes, onion and celery with water in a saucepan or soup pot.

5. Cook on top of stove until potatoes are soft but not mushy. Do not drain.


6. To water already in the pot, add 2 Tablespoons butter or margarine (my mother used a whole stick, but she used reduced fat milk — go figure) and as much milk as you think looks right. I just eyeball it.

7. Give the soup a stir to see if it looks good to you. My mom made her potato soup rather thin, but you can make it thicker by adding less milk. Cook on low until heated through.

Season to taste with pepper and salt or Mrs. Dash. I like to garnish with a little sliced scallion.

Now you have a basic tater soup, but that’s only the beginning. Bob’s mom liked to add ham and cheese to hers. This basic soup also makes a good base for chowder. I like to make chicken corn chowder by adding cubed chicken, sliced mushrooms and a can of cream corn. You may thicken your chowder with a little corn starch dissolved in water if you wish.