Potato Soup Du Annum

I love soup and homemade soup is by far the best. It's economical and quite nutritional. My favorite soup varies from day to day, but all in all, I would have to say that potato soup is my all-around favorite. Here's a recipe for the best potato soup that I've ever tasted. You can toss just about anything in it, from leftover ham to bacon bits. Take the basic recipe and make it your own. By the way, I like to dice the onions but when I was married to an onion hater, I had to grate them in a cheese grater because if he saw the onion pieces, he would get heartburn. If he didn't see them, he didn't get heartburn.

6 medium sized potatoes
1 stick of butter
milk
1 medium diced onion
1 carrot sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1 large celery stalk sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1 cup of shredded cheese (I use sharp cheddar but you can use American or Colby)
salt
pepper
1 cup of leftover ham diced (you can always use a can of Spam if you want to)

Dice the potatoes into half inch pieces and put them in a dutch oven. Toss in the sliced carrot and celery and the diced onion. (If you have to grate the onions, don't add them until after you strain the water out of the vegetables.) Add enough water to just cover the vegetables and simmer them until fork tender. Don't boil them or you'll end up with diluted mashed potatoes. When the vegetables are done, strain about half of the water out, then add the butter and enough milk to barely cover the vegetables. You can always add more so try not to put too much in at first. Add the cheese and then about a teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Mix and simmer for about twenty minutes. Taste the soup to see if you need to add more salt or pepper. At this point, the soup may be a bit thin, that's OK, you can fix it later. Once you have the soup tasting right, add the ham or bacon bits or whatever meat you prefer. Of course, you don't have to add any meat at all, but this is the way that I like it. When you have the soup tasting how you like it, you can thicken it if you need to by putting three tablespoons of cornstarch into a cup, add a cup of milk and then stir that until the cornstarch has dissolved. Add that mixture slowly, a bit at a time, stirring the soup after every quarter cup or so. Before you add more of the cornstarch mixture, let the soup cook for about 5 minutes so that it has time to thicken. When you have the soup as thick as you like it, stop adding the cornstarch. Top each bowl with a bit of shredded cheese, chives, sliced scallions or bacon bits and serve with crackers.