Easy & Delicious Potato Soup

Now I'm really going everywhere with this blog lol. I really like the freedom I have found by pulling away from so many deep blogs and throwing in some light-hearted stuff as well. That's what my life is; easy and hard, deep thoughts and shallow ones, laughter and tears...well you get the picture. Anyway, enough digression. I thought I would share with you a super yummy and super easy recipe invented (I'm pretty sure, don't quote me on it) by the original Petty Crocker, my father-in-law. He made it while he was here for Christmas and David and I were both hooked. I warn you I am big on "seasoning to taste" so the measurements I will give you are definitely flexible. I am also big on modifying recipes, so I will have a few suggestions for alternatives or add-ins as well. I'm all about being creative in the kitchen these days, but for those of you who prefer to follow a recipe exact, here is the general combination of ingredients.

• 6 cups water-----I think it would be even better/more flavorful if you used a vegetable broth or chicken broth here but I haven't tried that yet but I will!
• 6 medium potatoes-----whichever kind you prefer, I think yukon gold would be really good but, again, I haven't tried them with it yet...I'll let you know
• 1 c chopped onion----sweet onion, white or yellow. Here is where I mention the season taste, I like onions so I used a little more, if you don't like them, use a little less
• 5 stalks celery--- or you can use broccoli, I've had it both ways and it's good, just chop the broccoli up fine. Again, I love vegetables so I usually add a little extra
• 1 8 oz package cream cheese
• ***Ground hamburger or sausage***--- this is optional, though I recommend it. I actually use lean ground turkey flavored with an italian seasoning (a combination of thyme, garlic, marjoram, rosemary, basil & sage) which makes it taste a lot like ground sausage. I like it because it's a lower fat way to get that sausage taste and let's face it, sausage and potatoes is gg000ooodd.... :). If you want to go the turkey route add the seasoning(s) a little at a time, a long with salt, until you get the flavor you want.

Chop potatoes, onion and celery into smaller chunks and put them on stove in 6c water (or vegetable broth) to cook. If you choose to add meat, brown the meat while the vegetables are cooking, salting to taste. When potatoes are done and starting to fall apart, add the meat (once it's cooked!) to the soup. Take the cream cheese and cut it into small chunks and add to soup. Stir all together until cream cheese is all melted. Salt to taste and serve! The recipe yields about 12 cups.

***If soup is too thin you can add a more little cream cheese. Or, if you want a lower fat way to thicken it, spoon some of the soup into a food processor, puree it and add back to soup. Repeat this until soup is thickened to your liking!

See, I told you it was easy and it's SO good! Plus the wonderful thing about soup is leftovers. I love having something quick and easy but not full of junk. If any of you try it and make modifications please share! Or if you just try it and like it!

For those of you who are dieting, it's about 180 calories per cup of soup. Not too shabby for a creamy soup! You could cut calories (but likely a bit of taste too) by using a lower fat cream cheese if you so desire. Also, that approximation (using the recipe builder on livestrong.com) is with water not vegetable broth which would add some calories, though not a ton.