Diggin’ Potatoes

Is there anything more versatile than a potato? I’m sure there is, but the potato has to be up there in the top 20. These beauties just came out of my garden. I really had no plan for my garden this year, and unfortunately it shows. But the potatoes did beautifully, and it is kinda fun digging them up in the fall. Of course my husband does the digging and I pick them out of the dirt, so my job maybe just a bit more enjoyable then his. But I would like to think of it as a lovely couple fall event. I was going to feature pears this month, but they were so good that I didn’t want to add sugar to them and make dessert, so I made potato soup instead.

Potato Soup = Chilly evenings for me. I remember my mom making it in the fall or winter the sun was setting earlier and it just felt like home. Everyone around the table talking about their day, crushing up crackers and eating jelly on bread with it. Simple foods are sometimes the best foods. So if you are feeling the cooler evenings and the sun isn’t up to staying up as long as you. Turn on the oven and make yourself a pot of potato soup. The leftovers are just as good if not better!

Tater Facts:

A potato is 80% water and 20% solids.

An average American eats about 124 pounds of potatoes and Germans twice as much.

After dairy products, potatoes are second most consumed food in all of the US.

Potato is a relative to tobacco and tomato.

In 1952, Mr. Potato Head was born and was also the first toy to be advertised on television.

The World’s largest potato producing country is China.

Potatoes have more potassium than bananas.

See potatoes are important!

Let’s Start Cooking

First, I chopped and shredded all the vegetables in a pot.

Then add 8 potatoes! Seems like a lot but then again it’s potato soup!

A little salt-a little pepper!

Then you add just enough water to cook the vegetables. Don’t add too much water otherwise your soup will taste watery and not as creamy. The following picture is what it looks like after the vegetables are all nice and soft.

Add 4 cups of whole milk and heat through. The original recipe calls for cream and milk. But I decided to just go with the middle ground with whole milk. I wanted to go with a little less calories. When you start adding cups of cream its easy on the taste buds but hard on your calorie intake.

Potato Soup

1 cup diced celery

2 medium carrots, shredded

1/2 cup diced onion

1 1/2 tsp salt (may need to add more later for taste)

1/2 tsp pepper (Same with the pepper)

8 cubed potatoes

4 cups whole milk

Combine first 6 ingredients and add water to almost cover vegetables. Cook for about 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add milk and heat through.

Sunrise over Lake Tamarac
Sweeping Clouds
Plums!
Itasca State Park
Golden Canopy in Itasca
Blooms at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park

We have had some nature adventure as of late. It’s probably one of my favorite things to do is take in nature and all the little things it has to offer. In this particular picture, the sun was setting, deer were out romping in the grass and both the temperature and scenery were beautiful!

And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: Genesis 3:8a