My Year In Soup-Week 12

I was trying to decide which soup to make for this week, and then realized I'd have some ham leftovers, and decided to use that as the focus for the soup. I just did a Google search for an easy recipe and this is the result-it also helped I had everything on hand, including some potatoes that needed to be used up. Here is the original recipe. My version is for half the amount with a few additional alterations. This is an easy recipe to add more or less of any of the ingredients to your taste. I doubled the ham and cheese myself.

Chunky Potato and Ham Soup

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:
1 1/2 medium red potatoes, peeled, cut in small cubes
2+ cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
ground black pepper
2 cups milk ( I used 1 cup 1% milk and 1 cup fat free half & half-just because that's what I had on hand)
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese ( I used a white cheddar)
1 cup cubed cooked ham
pepper to taste

1. Bring water and 1/4 teaspoon salt to a boil; add potatoes and cook until tender-these cooked pretty fast. Drain; reserve 1/2 cup of cooking liquid.
2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat (I used the same pan I cooked the potatoes in). Sauté chopped onion in the hot butter until tender.


3. Add flour to butter and onion mixture; stir until smooth. Season with a little pepper; continue to cook and stir for 1 minute.

4. Gradually add potatoes, reserved 1/2 cup of cooking liquid, and milk. Stir well; add cheese and ham.

5. Simmer potato ham soup over low heat, stirring frequently, for about 20 minutes (I couldn't wait that long, it was sooo good!)

6. Garnish with something green (I used some parsley) and a hunk of good bread to dunk in it. Yum!!!!
This was really good! It went great with the cool/windy weather we're having and can hardly wait to eat some for lunch tomorrow!