The Best Potato Soup Ever!

One of the family favs, I need to give Aunt Leslee credit. Her home is forever open to guests, she is the ultimate hostess. There is always something on the stove or in the fridge for whoever is there and is hungry. She made a big batch of this wonderful soup when we were up there visiting one fall and I had to call her later for this soup recipe. She said she got it from a church cookbook, but had a few alterations all her own. I bought the book and copied down her way. I just made a few gallons of it for Lacy's wedding and everyone seemed to like it, so here is the recipe tried and true.

12 medium potatoes
1 C. chopped onion
1/4 C. butter or margarine
2 C. cream
3 C. milk
1 T. salt
2 C. grated cheddar cheese
4 green onions, finely sliced
1 pound bacon, fried crisp, drained and crumbled
Salt and Pepper to taste

Peel and quarter potatoes and place in a large pot. Fill pot with water just to cover potatoes. Put on lid; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 30 minutes or until tender. Saute chopped onions and butter or margarine until onions are tender and browned. Remove potatoes from heat and drain. Add cream and stir together. Mash potatoes until mixture is smooth. Stir in milk, salt and onion/butter mixture. Return pot to stove and simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Watch carefully to avoid scorching. Turn down heat if necessary. Use cheese, green onion and bacon for topping each bowl as it is served. Makes about 12 cups.

Leslee's way:
just peel a couple of potatoes and saute with the onion and butter until tender. Make a couple of packages of the mashed potato flakes (of course with more water or milk for a soup consistency) in a large pot. Add chunky potatoes/onion/butter mixture to pot and add the rest of the ingredients. more cream=thicker soup. more water = thinner soup. I think Leslee puts the green onions, and the bacon into the soup. Garnish with cheese, sour cream, more bacon crumbles, whatever. The bacon bits from Hormel/costco are just fine.

Sherry's speedy for a large crowd way:
Get 1 package (per Gallon of soup you are making) Ore-Ida diced (hash browns) frozen potatoes. NOT the O'Brian kind, just plain. Saute the onions in the butter until tender. Add a little more butter to the pan and saute the hashbrowns just a tad. Not to full browned state, just tender. Then follow the rest of Leslee's way and the soup is delicious and pretty quick. When boiling the water for the potato flakes, you can substitute chicken broth for more flavor.