Cream of Potato Soup

Ingredients

• 7 tablespoons butter
• 7 tablespoons flour
• 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 teaspoon pepper
• 7 cups milk
• 8 cups potatoes, diced and fully cooked
• cheddar cheese (optional)

Directions

1. 1

   Now before starting the soup I cook the potatoes. I put them in a colander to cool and drain while I get the soup boiling. I also smash the lightly. They will still be chunky but in a big mushy clump.

2. 2

   Melt butter in sauce pan (you'll need a big one) and remove from heat. Add flour, salt, and pepper. Mix with butter to form a paste.

3. 3

   Slowly add milk. I add about 1/8 cup and mix well with the flour until it's all blended. I do this a few times until the flour and milk are blended well and start to get thinned out. Then I add the rest of the milk.

4. 4

   Cook on med-high heat. STIR CONSTANTLY I really can't stress enough how important it is to stir constantly. If you don't the milk will burn. Bring to a boil.

5. 5

   Add potatoes a little at at time and stir well in between each addition. Return soup to boiling and you're done! My husband also like to add cheddar cheese to his bowl. You may need to add more salt or pepper depending on your tastes.

6. 6

   There are a lot of ways to change this up. You can just add the potatoes in diced if you want bigger bites of potato. My husband likes his soup thick and I find smashing the potatoes before adding to the soup helps thicken it. If you want your soup a little thinner you can add less potatoes or add more milk.

7. 7

   If this makes too much soup for you (it's enough to feed 4 as a meal) here is the original recipe: 4 T butter, 4 T flour, 1 t salt, 1/2 t pepper, 4 cups milk, 4 cups potatoes.

8. 8

   I originally doubled it but decided that was too thin so cut back on 1 of every thing except the potatoes. A guideline to follow is to remember for every cup of milk use 1 T butter, 1 T flour, 1/4 t salt, and 1/8 t pepper.