Autumn Recipe-Potato Ham Soup

Autumn is quickly approaching and with Fall in the air, I have been starting to crave a hot bowl of soup. I don’t have a lot of from scratch soup recipes, so I decided this year I am inspired to try some out to add to my recipe book! What I like about soup is that it’s usually fun and easy to prepare, you can put it in a crock pot to have later. Plus- usually soup is a healthy,balanced meal complete with veggies and protein. The first new soup recipe I made to (prematurely) kick off Fall (Hey it did drop down to the 50’s tonight!) is for a hearty-

Potato Ham Soup!

Ingredients:

3 medium sized potatoes, peeled & cut into small cubes
2 cups water
1 small onion
3-4 TB of butter
3-4 TB of flour
crushed red pepper flakes
black pepper (I grind mine from a pepper mill)
salt
3 cups milk
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup smoked ham-cubed or cut in pieces
2 TB real bacon bits or 2 strips of cooked smoked bacon, crumbled (bacon is optional, but I did use bacon in mine)
Dried Parsley for garnish
Optional-oyster crackers or cheddar gold fish crackers for garnish

Directions: Cover the potatoes with the 2 cups water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Cook potatoes until tender,but you don’t want them to fall apart, so don’t overcook. Drain the potatoes, reserving the liquid and set the potatoes aside. Pour reserved liquid in to a 1 cup measuring cup, and add water if necessary to equal 1 cup of liquid; set aside.

Peel & finely chop the onion. Melt butter in your pot over a medium heat. Add onion and saute , stirring frequently until the onion turns translucent but is not brown. Add flour to pan. Now add your seasonings to taste. I added a few hand cranks of black pepper, and a couple of dashes of the red pepper flakes and a pinch of salt. The Crushed Red Pepper flakes will add some “heat” to your soup, so depending on how spicy you want it , use less or more of those. As an alternative to these 3 spices, you could use Mrs. Dash original seasoning for a different flavor. Cook this mixture for about 3 min.

This is what your onions will look like when they start to turn translucent

I personally don’t use the traditional ground up pepper when I cook. I like the larger flakes, so I use a pepper mill and grind the peppercorns myself. It’s the little things that make a difference!

Gradually add potatoes, reserved 1 cup cooking liquid, milk, and sugar to onion mixture in your pot. Stir well. Add cheese, ham and bacon. Simmer over a low heat for 30 min, stirring frequently.

Pour soup into bowls and garnish with dried parsley flakes and/or oyster or goldfish crackers. Makes about 6 bowls.

Voila! The finished product. A bowl of hot, yummy good-ness!

I thought it was really good and if your guy is anything like mine, they will love the hearty addition of the meat to it. The smoked flavor of the ham & bacon tastes like Autumn to me!

If you want a sandwich to go with this soup, how about one of the grilled cheese ideas from a previous article Click here: “Cooking with Cast Iron & Creative Grilled Cheese Ideas” . Don’t forget to use a cast iron skillet if you make grilled cheese; I swear it makes a difference!

Linked @ Skip to my lou, Creative Mondays, Shaken together, MercyInk, Far Above Rubies, Thankful Homemaker & Time Warp Wife, Women Living Well