Mennonite Monday - Cheesy Potato Soup

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

This week I wanted to make a recipe that used ingredients that I already had on hand and needed to use.  I found the Cheesy Potato Soup (pg 207W), which made a great meal for a snowy evening.  I will mention that is doesn't make a huge recipe, which is good for Mike and I, but for a larger family, you may want to double it.  

Cheesy Potato Soup 

4 medium potatoes

5 strips bacon, diced

1 to 2 cups milk 

2 slices Velveeta Cheese

2 Tbl diced onion

2 Tbl butter

1 Tbl flour

salt & pepper to taste

Cube the potatoes and cook till done.  Fry bacon and onion.  Drain off all but 1 02 Tbl of fat.  Add flour and stir.  Drain off most of the liquid from potatoes.  Add milk, cheese, butter, salt and pepper, bacon and onion mixture, stirring and cooking till it thickens.  

 Peeled potatoes.  The recipe didn't say if the potatoes should be peeled, but I did because I thought we would like it better that way. 

 I diced the potatoes in fairly small chunks. 

 Boiling the potatoes.  It took about 15 minutes of boiling for them to be cooked. 

 I cut my bacon using a kitchen scissors.  

 This was the first mistake I made, completely draining my potatoes when the recipe said to drain most of the liquid. 

 I used minced onion instead diced onion, so I just added it to the potatoes instead of the bacon. 

 Adding the four to the bacon. 

 Once the flour is stirred in. 

 Adding bacon to the potatoes.

 Since I drained off all the water, I added 2 cups of milk instead of 1. 

 I wasn't sure what a slice of Velveeta was, so I decided to go by the 4 oz. mark on the package, so I ended up using 8 oz. of Velveeta.  This my have been too much, but I figured it would be better to have to much instead of not enough. 

 Instead of using salt and pepper, I used nature's seasoning because it has a bunch of different flavors in it and I basically use it on everything I cook. I should also add that I forgot to add the butter.  (That was my second mistake on this recipe)

The finished product.  Despite the two mistakes I made, it turned out very well.