Recipe: Potato Soup

There is nothing quite like the warming quality of a hearty, home made soup on a cold winter's day. This potato soup recipe is dead easy, cheap as chips and utterly delicious. It comes courtesy of my mom; she has been whipping up batches for over 60 years. I am hesitant to say how many servings this recipe makes because it depends on the size of the potatoes, but we usually get around 12 servings out of it.

Mom's Potato Soup

Ingredients

• 10-12 potatoes, peeled and diced
• water to cover
• 2 small onions, diced
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 ribs celery, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Cup half and half
• 1 Cup vegetable broth (I swear by McKay's)

Potato Soup ingredients

1. Place potatoes, onions, garlic, and celery in a large pot or Dutch oven. Pour in just enough water to cover the potatoes. Add salt and simmer about 30 minutes.

2. Remove 3 cups of potato mixture and mash thoroughly, then return to pot. This thickens the soup while still leaving lots of satisfying chunks. If you want a creamier soup, go nuts with the immersion blender.

3. Stir in half & half and broth. Heat through.

Enjoy!

After running out of McKay's seasoning recently, I realized that it is not an easy item to locate in the Cincinnati area. I came away empty-handed from all area groceries, including Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Jungle Jim's International Market, and the shipping fees on the company's website are simply too high. I ended up stopping by Health Foods Unlimited while visiting family in Dayton, as it is the only place I have been able to find it consistently. Before we moved to Newport, Health Foods Unlimited was my go-to grocery for all things vegetarian and healthy, and I'm quite happy to continue giving them my custom - but if anyone knows where I can buy McKay's seasoning in town, please let me know!