Potato Soup

Being laid off has it's perks! I'm taking a liking to really trying to teach myself how to 'really' cook. I've always been the 'box' and 'can' kind of cook. If you can really call that cooking;) But I'm venturing into the homemade, slaved over, all day in the kitchen kind of cooking. Ok, we all know that may not be the case! Either way I'm trying...and my family is still alive! Points for me:)

I've never slaved over homemade potato soup. The lovely folks over at Campbell's always do that for me! Love em! I have these gigantic potatoes I bought at Sam's club and need to use them up before they start growing things. I've never understood how they can continually grow things when they are out of the ground. I mean once they are out of the ground they should be done right? I mean strawberries don't keep growing once they are picked. Neither does celery or carrots. Stubborn crazy potatoes, what are they thinking? It kinda freaks me out. Ok...sorry for the ditz moment there...but I'm just saying........crazy potatoes.

I came up with this concoction searching for potato soup recipes that were very very simple. Cause that's the way I cook! I happened to have all the ingredients (very few) so I gave it a go.

Ingredients:
8 med. to large potatoes
4 tsp. salt (give or take depending on taste)
1 cup sour cream
1 stick of butter
2 1/2 cups milk
2 tsp. pepper (depending on taste...just season till it gives you the taste you desire)
shredded cheddar cheese to top
8 slices of cooked bacon crumbled up (give or take...we love bacon)
4 scallions (I didn't have any on hand but would have made a nice touch)

Rinse, peel and slice potatoes into bite size cubes. Place in a large pot and cover with water. Add 2 tsp. of salt and bring to boil. Reduce heat and let simmer till potatoes are very soft (about 40 minutes). Drain potatoes, discard water, return half the potatoes to pot. Mash other half of potatoes in a bowl with a potato masher. Return mashed potatoes to pot. Add butter and sour cream to potatoes stirring until melted. Add milk, pepper, and remaining salt and bring back to simmer. If you prefer it really cheesy you can add some cheese now and have it melt in. Otherwise its ready to serve with cheese, bacon, and scallions if you so desire.