Creamy Potato Soup with BACON!!!

As the weather turns colder, it's time to look into soups. I've always wanted to make a really good potato soup, but I never knew where to start. I knew I wanted something creamy with chunks of potato in it. I searched the Internet, and found a recipe for Delicious Ham and Potato Soup. Ham didn't sound very good to me, but bacon did. :) So I altered the recipe to what sounded good to me. I've written the recipe a little different than normal because there are some things I would change about my soup tonight. For example, I felt it was too thick. I've added all changes into the recipe below. 

Creamy Potato Soup with BACON!!! 

2 large gold/white potatoes, diced (you could also use 4 to 6 small ones)
2 stalks celery
1/2 large white onion 
2 cups water (probably should have used a little more)
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1/2 t salt 
1/2 t pepper (wasn't enough for me so I put more in my bowl)
3-4 pieces of bacon
2 T butter
2 T olive oil (alternatively you could probably use bacon grease in place of some of the oil)
5 T flour
1-3/4 cups milk (I probably should have used 2 cups milk)
Cheese
Green onions, sliced (I didn't actually put these in, but I think they'd be really good in it)

Place the potatoes, celery, onion, water, and chicken bouillon cubes in a sauce pan. Boil for 15+ minutes, stirring occasionally (mine cooked for about 30 minutes because I didn't plan things out well, so that might be why I felt it could use more liquid--too much might have boiled off). Season with the salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, cook bacon. Crumble or dice. Either after the bacon is done or while the it is cooking, heat butter and olive oil in a small sauce pan. Whisk in flour. When mixture starts to boil, slowly add in milk. Bring to a boil. Pour into potato mixture.

You can either stir in the bacon (but I felt this made it a little soggy) or top to soup with it in each bowl. Also top with cheese and green onions, if desired.

Creamy Potato Soup

For dinner last night, I really wanted potato soup. I've been craving it like crazy, but I've never made it from scratch before. I don't even have a recipe (that I know of) for it. I decided to take my chances and use the Creamy Butternut Squash Soup recipe as a base. And I even remembered to take a picture! I halved the recipe, and instead of using a butternut squash, I used about 2 lbs of Yukon gold potatoes. Instead of cilantro I added two green onions, sliced, and 1 teaspoon of dried chives. To make it easier for you, here's the recipe:

Creamy Potato Soup
1 T olive oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
4-6 garlic cloves, crushed (we love our garlic!)
1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes
2 lb potatoes, cubed (I used Yukon gold)
one 14-15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 cans coconut milk
1 can vegetable stock
2 green onions, sliced
1 teaspoon dried chives
2 t sea salt, plus more to taste


In a stock pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onions and saute for five minutes. Then add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Saute for another minute or two, stirring frequently to reduce burning.


Add the cubed potatoes, tomatoes, coconut milk and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender (till you can stick a fork in them easily).


When everything is cooked, ladle some of the soup into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. Transfer to a clean pot or bowl. Continue to blend the soup in batches until all soup has been pureed. If you like your soup more chunky, only puree half of the soup. Add the sea salt, green onions, and chives. Enjoy!

Olive Oil Fries

These fries were so good I almost forgot to take a picture of them.  Ryan and I ate them with baked chicken marinated in Lowry's Caribbean Jerk Marinade.  We used new potatoes, but you can also use russet or sweet potatoes for these fries.

Olive Oil Fries:

• 2 large new potatoes
• 1/8 c. olive oil
• 1/4 t sea salt
• 1/2 t turmeric 
• 1 t garlic powder
• 1/2 T paprika
• Freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Scrub potatoes; then slice them into strips or wedges.  Place them in a large bowl.  Sprinkle with olive oil and seasonings; toss to coat.  Arrange potatoes in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  Bake until golden and fork tender, 30-40 minutes.  Flip potatoes half-way through.

Buffalo Sweat Roast

First off, I would like to thank Tallgrass Brewing Co. for having amazing beers to not only drink, but to also cook with.  Ironically, I was browsing their website today, and noticed that Tallgrass even has a section called Cooking with Tallgrass Beer.  Buffalo Sweat Roast is not from their website (there is a roast recipe on the site), but something I made up.  Because it's been a couple of weeks since I actually cooked this baby, the recipe below might not be completely accurate.  I can't remember what size of roast I used, but if I had to guess I would say somewhere between 2 and 5 lbs.  The roasting pot I used is one of my favorite kitchen purchases because it can be used on top of the stove or in the oven!

Buffalo Sweat Roast

• 2 T Olive Oil
• 4 or 5 Sprigs of Fresh Rosemary
• 3 or 4 Sprigs of Thyme
• 1 Beef Roast
• About 20 Baby Carrots
• 2 Russet Potatoes
• 1 Medium Onion
• 6 to 8 Cloves of Garlic
• 1 Bottle of Tallgrass Buffalo Sweat Stout
• Pepper
• Sea Salt 

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Heat olive oil, two sprigs of rosemary, and two sprigs of thyme in a roasting pan on the stove (medium heat).  Once oil is hot, place raw roast in pan.  Sear for about 5 minutes on all sides.  Remove from heat.  Add the rest of the rosemary and thyme, carrots, potatoes, onion, garlic, pepper, and Buffalo Sweat to pan.  Add salt, if desired (we didn't add any because I flat out forgot to put it in).  Cook for 3 to 5 hours, or until meat thermometer reads 165 degrees.  Immediately take roast out of juices and sprinkle with sea salt.  Also take out the onions, carrots and potatoes.  Strain juices and make into a gravy, if desired (if you didn't add salt before, you will definitely need to add some to the gravy).