Potato Cheese Soup

This recipe comes from Vanessa H. She got it in her high school Home Economics class and still uses it. She says it's easy to make and delicious and her husband is always asking her to make it.

Ingredients and Directions:

Soup:

• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 Tbsp minced onion
• white sauce*
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
  

Combine broth, potatoes, and onion. Bring to boil and reduce heat to low. Cover and cook about 15 minutes until potatoes are soft.

*While the potatoes are cooking, make the white sauce:

• 2 Tbsp butter/margarine
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
  

Melt butter and flour together in saucepan over medium heat. When mixed well and bubbling, pour in milk. Stir until thickened and liquid comes to a boil. (This takes a while, be patient!) Boil for about 10 seconds and remove from heat.

Combine the potato broth and white sauce. Mix well. Stir in the cheese (At this point, I don't measure. I always put more than 1 cup because we love cheese around here. I just do a couple of big handfuls.) Season with salt and pepper. (I add a LOT of salt. Potatoes soak up salt like crazy, so anytime you cook with potatoes you usually have to over-salt.) If it's too thick for your liking, add more milk to get it to the consistency you want.

Notes about this recipe:

1. I like to eat it with saltine crackers or bread. It's also really fun in bread bowls! I'm sure you can add anything you want into it, too. One of these days I want to experiment and make this a Broccoli-Potato Cheese Soup!