Slightly Spicy Potato Soup!

There's a foot of snow on the ground here (or at least there was before it warmed up a bit today), and when you're walking home from class in weather that's so cold it hurts to breathe, something thick and warm and yummy sounds like the best thing ever! So this week I decided to make potato soup in the crock pot, and since it turned out so yummy, I thought I should share!

The recipe was taken and modified from THIS one here, but I'll type it out here with my modifications.

• 3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled [I forgot this and it was still really good without]
• 4 red potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks [I used 4 biggish ones and 2 smaller ones]
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cups milk
• 1 cup sour cream [I just used one big dollop, probably about half a cup]
• 1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons seasoned salt [One teaspoon is PLENTY! This soup is very salty]
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes [DO NOT use a full tablespoon. I used one teaspoon and it was still VERY spicy]
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• chives for garnish (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat a large slow cooker by turning it to the High setting and covering with the lid.
2. Place the cut-up potatoes in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave on High for about 8 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked and steaming hot.
3. While the potatoes are cooking, place the butter in the preheated slow cooker, and cook and stir the onions and garlic for about 5 minutes, until the onions turn golden [I DID ALL THIS in a separate pan, then moved the onions over to the crock pot and continued]. Stir in 1/2 cup of milk, and whisk in the flour until smooth. Gradually whisk in the remaining 3 cups of milk, and let the mixture come to a simmer in the slow cooker [For me it took waaay too long to start simmering so I just added everything in once it got warm and it still turned out fine]. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until the soup begins to thicken.
4. Stir in the hot cooked potatoes, crumbled bacon, sour cream, Cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, seasoned salt, parsley, red pepper flakes, celery salt, and dried basil. Stir to mix the soup well, reduce the slow cooker setting to Low, cover, and cook for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with chives and serve.[I cooked for only an hour and a half on high, and it was delicious! I don't think it really needs to cook 3 whole hours]

Toward the end, the soup still wasn't as thick as I wanted so I whisked in a teeny bit more flour and it thickened up perfectly! I also put in more parsley than the recipe called for, and it definitely didn't hurt :)

Nothing like some potato soup to finish off a cold day!

Happy 2012!!

I'm back in Ellensburg after being home for nearly a month! Winter break was pretty fantastic - mostly because the amount of skiing I did was an insane amount for pre-season. I usually never ski before Christmas, but I took my boyfriend up to Snoqualmie and got him hooked on the ski bug, so after that we went skiing quite a bit. I wish I had pictures of it, but I always seem to forget to bring my camera to the mountain!

Powderpigs starts up this weekend. Since I have no classes on Fridays, I'm going to teach Friday nights and Saturday lessons!

I usually don't have New Year's Resolutions, but this year I've decided that I'm going to constantly remind myself to do my best. I always find that with school papers and projects, I hand them in thinking "this would have been so much better if I had started it a week ago", or "I could've done better on this and I will next time". But I rarely hold myself to that. Somehow I manage to squeak by every time, but I know I can always do better. So to remind myself of this, I'm going to make some sort of collage on my wall. I have a nice big blank space that would be perfect!

Happy New Year everybody! Here's to a fantastic year :) (since it might be the last year on Earth)