I know I have written about foods that go well with the weather in the past but I am going to post one more recipe that is on two of my lists. One being my list of favorites, and the other being my very simple to make list. The recipe is for my Cheesy Ham and Potato Soup.

The great thing about this soup is that it has been simplified due to using some prepackaged ingredients. Yes, ME, the king of the farmers market, said prepackaged! I have no problem in the world using certain canned vegetables and stocks or broths, and I use a lot of different frozen vegetables and I will take a minute now to tell you why.

The number one reason is frozen vegetables are picked and processed at the peak of their season, so they are as good as they can get, and they are generally a better quality breed. Since they don't have to be the genetically altered type of vegetables that are grown to ship 10,000 miles around the world, all the while pretending to be nice and fresh but tasting but feeling much like card board.

Frozen vegetables are grown within a few miles of where they are processed. They go from the vine to quick frozen solid within about 24 hours, then are packaged and shipped, so they never have a chance to get damaged.

The second reason I like to use frozen vegetables in some of my recipes, is because they are already cut into bite sized pieces. Many people aren't as comfortable with their knife skills as myself, and this can really save some time and take the fear out of the prep work especially if a big sharp knife isn't in your comfort zone.

(I know that if you are an avid viewer of things like the Food Network you will notice that almost every thing that is put into all of the dish's are fresh ingredients or pantry staples that have to be prepared before they can be used in the completion of the dish or meal itself. )

This recipe I am going to share with you is simple and fairly cheap when you consider that it makes such a large amount of food.

MY Cheesy Ham and Potato Soup is almost all store brand products purchased from Kroger, but YOU can buy any brand you want. I have to tell you though, I tried making it with top shelf expensive brands, and it tasted no different.

I have made this soup for seasonal parties like fall get together where everyone brings their favorite soup or stew to let everyone taste, and I have made it on a Sunday when people are coming over to watch the Detroit Lions lose. For what ever reason you want to make it, it's a bargain and is a real crowd pleaser.

If there are any leftovers it freezes well.

Cheesy Ham and Potato Soup

3qts Chicken broth plus 1 quart of water set aside depending on how thick or thin you want the soup

1-2 lb bag of frozen hash brown squares

1-1lb bag of frozen carrots

1 cup of frozen onion diced or 1 medium fresh onion diced if you feel like cutting an onion

2 lbs boneless ham cut into ½ inch cubes

1.5 lbs Kroger nice and cheesy cheese spread (kind of like Velveeta) about a ½ a box cut into cubes

1 ½ cups flour.

2 cups of water ( to mix with flour)

Add all ingredients into a large pot except the flour, water, and cheese and bring to a simmer. Once the liquid starts to simmer, add the cheese and stir occasionally until the cheese has melted.

By this time the all other ingredients should have come to temperature and be fully cooked. Once the cheese is completely melted and is no longer clumpy, add the flour and water into a separate bowl, and using a whisk, stir until the mixture is completely smooth (this is called a slurry) now add to the soup while stirring continuously, and let the soup comes back to a boil which will allow it to thicken.

Let it to simmer for about 5 minutes to cook the flour in, add salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy!

This soup goes great with homemade bread or a salad but believe me it is a meal in itself. The recipe posted can easily feed 8 people, it takes about 30-45 minutes to make and costs around 1.50 per serving using store brand products.

If you have any questions while making this recipe shoot me an email, and I will do what I can to help.

Chef B

http://boocoobay.com/b/nkchefservice

Bookmark: