Cheesy Potato Soup

On a cold winter day nothing warms a body like a fresh pot of soup, and, nothing warms the cook’s heart like an easy dish to prepare! This delicious homemade soup makes everyone happy. You can put it in a crock pot to simmer all day or wait until dinner time and whip it up in a hurry.
Ingredients:

• 8 medium potatoes
• 1 large or 2 small Vidalia onions
• 1 package of center cut bacon
• 1/8 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
• 8oz Velveeta cheese
• 1 Tablespoon of Lawry’s seasoned salt
• 1 Tablespoon of black pepper

Preparation

You’ll first want to gather your ingredients. It’s inevitable– if you don’t gather them ahead of time, you’ll either realize too late that you are missing a key ingredient, or, you’ll need to grab something at the exact moment your hands are covered with raw bacon tidbits.

Heat a large pot on the stove over medium heat. As the pot is heating, cut the bacon into bite size pieces. Once the pot is hot, add the bacon pieces, stirring often until brown.

While the bacon is cooking, peel and chop the onion and potatoes. Make sure your potatoes are cut into bite size pieces. Set aside for later use.

Once the bacon is crispy, add the onions and stir. Mmm…that smell always makes my mouth water. Let onions cook for approximately two minutes. You want them to be semi-translucent and tender, not fried to a crisp.

When the onions are tender, add your flour and mix until the grease is absorbed; making a paste. This will help thicken the soup & ensure it has great flavor. If your bacon made a lot of grease, you may want to drain some of it off before adding the flour.

Pour the potatoes into the pot with the bacon, onion and flour.

Add just enough hot water to cover the potatoes.

Next, pour in the can of evaporated milk. This will help make your soup extra creamy. Add the seasoned salt and pepper and give it a good stir.

Depending on the size box of Velveeta Cheese you bought, you’ll want to cut about ¼ block of the large 32oz box of cheese or ½ of a small 16oz box into cubes. You can adjust the amount you use if you prefer a more or less cheesy taste.
Put cubes of Velveeta into a bowl with about 1 teaspoon of water. Microwave the cheese on high, stirring every 20 seconds, until it is creamy.

If you diced the cheese small enough, you could just add them directly to the soup, but I tend to use larger chunks so microwaving them first means they all melt completely.

Add melted Velveeta to the pot, and bring to a simmer. Let the soup simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Adjust the seasonings to taste.

Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese over the top of each bowl before serving.