Scooty-Pootin ...and a recipe

I used to know a girl who used this term all the time. Whenever anyone asked her how she was doing, she always said "Scooty-Pootin' along". That meant everything was running smoothly. Same thing here. No loss, but no gain and this is week number seven without sugar or flour. I try to stay motivated. I am reorganizing my kitchen cabinets, finding lots of good stuff to send to the Rescue Mission. I made a table cloth for my kitchen table today and then put together the yummiest pot of potato soup for dinner tonight. Potatoes really warm a body on a rainy day. Potato soup is so easy to make, this is what I do.

1. peel, rinse and cube 5-6 russet bakers
2. dice up some onion (to suit your tastes)
3. dice up some celery

Toss all this into a fairly large, heavy bottom pot with enough filtered water to cover all the ingredients by about one inch, add several spoonfuls (or cubes) of chicken bullion granules and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to a lower setting, cover and let simmer until all is tender and the water has reduced some. Usually around 15-20 minutes. There is usually enough time to read a few blogs while the soup is cooking. When the potatoes are tender, I then lower the heat to the lowest setting on my burner.

Since this is a pretty large amount of potatoes, I now start sort of stirring and mashing at them in the remaining water and allow some of them to break up to start thickening the soup. If you have not used enough potatoes, or have too much water, and stuff looks really thin, you can shake in some instant potato flakes to act as a thickener. Or you can get mad and mutter under your breath. I don't usually have to do this step.

Now, let's gradually start adding some milk to the pot. If you want, you can put some of the soup into a deep bowl and add the milk to that before adding to the hot soup. Some folks don't like to put cold milk directly into a hot dish, as it may curdle the milk. I have never had this happen with this soup. Add as much milk as you want, but very gradually, keeping an eye on it, so it doesn't get thin again, making you roll your eyes heavenward while clinching your left hand very hard, and remember keep the soup on low to make sure everything is nice and warm.

Dish up and enjoy. It looks pretty to put some finely grated cheese and a pinch of parsley flakes on top of the soup. Try not to inhale or aspirate those dry parsley flakes and sneeze onto the soup. I sometimes have several pieces of buttered Ezekiel bread with my bowl, while my hubby likes organic wheat crackers with his.

Whatever your choice of accompaniment is, be sure to enjoy yourself some Southern style potato soup. It's the ultimate comfort food.

Have a great weekend.