Baked Potato Soup Recipe

Here is "my" baked potato soup recipe, all credit going to Recipes from the Heart, Tye Baptist Church cook book I received a few years ago from a very sweet lady!

Ingredients needed are:

12 slices of bacon(cooked and crumbled)
2/3 c margarine
2/3 c all purpose flour
7 c whole milk
4 lg baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 green onions, chopped
1 1/4 c shredded cheddar cheese
1 c sour cream
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt

I have learned to cook the bacon in the oven. Place the bacon strips on a foil lined baking sheet. Put in a COLD oven. Turn the oven to bake @400 degrees, and set the timer for 20 min. crispy yummy good bacon! Not much mess! but however you want to cook it is fine! But do this first, and then get started on the soup. I use kitchen scissors to cut up the bacon if I can't crumble it.

Here is the pan I use when making the soup. Recipe says in a stock pot or dutch oven..

Melt the margarine over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. I used my spatula this time because my whisk was broken. Gradually stir in milk whisking constantly until thickened. Stir in potatoes and onions. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Add salt and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 min. 

Mix in the bacon, cheese, sour cream. (I leave some bacon set aside, and have a little extra grated cheese for garnish). Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until cheese is melted. 

This is what it looks like in my pot when done. And then I add a little garnish to the top when I serve it, like the picture below. 

When I make this for a crowd of 12 or more I use these portions(it's the recipe + 1/2 kind of I've had to play with it). Sometimes I still have a little left over for lunch the next day.

24 slices of bacon
7 large baked potatoes
2 sticks butter
1c flour
12 c milk
2c cheese
1 1/2 c sour cream
2tsp salt/pepper

That is what the above picture is showing, the larger recipe. It is even better the next day, I just add some milk while heating the soup to thin it up a little bit.
I try to make the larger recipe most times, I then take some to my grandmother, mother, widows, or friends who I know like it!

Please do share.

Pay it Forward

Today me and Em hurried off to United to get some groceries for lunch and supper. I was in a hurry because I wanted to get in and out and get home in time to get lunch hot and ready for my husband, Jeremiah. It was 11 when I finally got everything together to run to the store! YIKES hurry!

Em was excited to "go", she loves the grocery store, and has become quite my helper there as well. She asks what we need on the list, and says "those are good" to some things she loves like grapes, and cheese, and milk too! When I got ready to check out with my less than 20 items, I realized something, I got the canvas bags, but forgot my purse in the car. So being in the small town we live in,  I found a cashier who knows me, told her I needed to leave my basket and I'd be right back to pay for my items. She said you can leave her too! So Em and her were having a conversation, and she didn't care that Momma was leaving for a minute. I literally ran to the van and back! I went up to the counter, and started to open my purse to get out our money to pay. The cashier hands me my receipt and says there you go. I thought she might have had to ring up our groceries, and then go ahead and get the woman behind us because I took too long or something. But quickly I realized the woman behind us had paid for my groceries! I, being the emotional person  I am held it together, but really wanted to burst out in happy tears. I hugged the woman's neck, the cashier kept smiling. I told her that was so nice, thank you, but I can pay for our groceries, I just had forgotten my purse. She said no, no, it's called Pay it Forward...now it's your turn.

I was and still am humbled. I am so thankful for people who are listening to God, doing the little things to show his love to others. I wish I knew her name and could thank her publicly but then I remembered....

Matthew 6:1-4

1“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. ² Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. ³ But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,⁴ that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.^[a]

So I share with you to give glory to God and to encourage you to also look for opportunities to pay it forward for the Kingdom of God!