Crockpot Potato Soup

Dinner!  

Grilled turkey and cheese {stilton with cranberries, oh. my. heavens} sandwiches and potato soup.  

It is snowy today, so it is a take-it-easy kind of day.  Always my favorite.  This originally was on the menu for Friday night, but I decided to fix it today... with a twist!  I turned a recipe from my mother-in-law into a crockpot version.  I'll give you both so you can decide how you want to fix it.



Here's her's:
Stovetop Potato Soup
Potatoes-2-3 lbs - or until you have the desired amount

1 envelope Knorr Leek soup mix

1 onion, diced

1/2 t Old Bay seasoning

1/2 t Greek seasoning

a sprinkle of cayenne pepper

1/8 t celery salt (you can add sliced celery/carrots)

1/4 c or so of milk/Half & Half,etc

1-2 T  instant potatoes

shredded cheese for topping

Peel and cube potatoes. In large cooking pot, cover with water and bring to a boil.

Add spices and soup mix, onions, veggies and let simmer.  Cook until tender - 20 minutes or so.  Add more spices as desired. Add milk, just to lighten up the soup to a whiter color.  Also add some instant potatoes to thicken--more or less to desired thickness.  At the table-provide a bowl of shredded cheese for topping on the soup.

Here's my version:
Crockpot Potato Soup
5 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 pkg leek soup mix
1 medium onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced small
5 shakes hot sauce (I used Texas Pete)
5 cups water
1 cup milk (I used 1%)
salt and pepper to taste


Combine potatoes, soup mix, onion, celery, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and water in a crockpot.  Cook high for 3 hours and low for 1 hours OR low for 7 hours.  30 minutes before serving, take 3/4 cup of the potato mixture and blend it.  This acts as a thickener.  Be careful when blending hot liquids because they can splatter easily.  Return blended mixture to crockpot.  Stir well to combine.  While stirring, add in milk.  Continue cooking.  When I added the milk I switched mine over to "keep warm" and it was on that for an hour before we ate.  Garnish with cheese and sliced green onions.  (I wish I would have had the green onions! I think they would have really added to the flavor!)

This is what the soup mix looks like and gives you a good size comparison of what size of the potato I used. 

Before...

After... with thickener and milk.

The Verdict:
A great soup recipe!  I was excited that it turned out the same as I remember it, even though I was using the crockpot.  I will definitely be making this again because it's a great way to use up potatoes and it takes very little work.  I think the way I fixed it lacked a little salt, but we're trying to watch our sodium intake these days.  That's why I think the green onion would have been good on top.  Maybe chives even.  I ended up adding a little pepper on the top of mine too.  Always a good option in my book!