Creamy, Cheesy Potato Soup

Total Time: 25 mins Preparation Time: 5 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 3 -4 medium red potatoes, scrubbed and diced into 1 inch cubes
• 3 cups water
• 1 small onion, diced fine (or 2 tsp granulated onion)
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (to taste)
• salt & pepper (to taste)
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 4 -5 slices bacon, crumbled (or 1 cup of diced leftover ham)

Recipe

• 1 bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan.
• 2 add potato cubes and stir to make sure they are just covered with water.
• 3 cook potatoes until fork tender, maybe 10 minutes.
• 4 drain potatoes and set aside.
• 5 in a large pot melt butter over medium heat and stir in onion. if using real onion cook until just translucent.
• 6 stir in the flour and cook stirring constantly for at least a minute to get rid of the raw flour taste. (if you've never worked with roux it will look like a really thick paste at this point. that's great- keep stirring :) ).
• 7 add red pepper flakes and salt & pepper.
• 8 slowly add the 1 cup of broth stirring as you pour it into the roux. stir until smooth.
• 9 start adding the milk and cream and stir until smooth.
• 10 bring the mixture up to a low simmer stirring constantly. simmer 2-3 minutes.
• 11 add the sugar and the shredded cheese.
• 12 stir until cheese is melted.
• 13 stir in bacon or ham and potatoes and cook for 1 minute to heat potatoes thru.