More Soupyness

Here's another one of Little Mandy's recipes (she never lets me down). It makes a HUGE batch of soup, so I usually half it.

Baked Potato Soup

4 large baking potatoes (microwaved until soft)
2/3 c. butter
2/3 c. flour**
6 c. milk
3/4 tsp. salt
pepper to taste
12 cooked slices of bacon or 1 package oscar mayer real bacon pieces
1 1/4c. shredded cheddar
1 c. (8oz) sour cream

Scoop pulp of baked potatoes into a bowl. Melt butter on low heat in large saucepan. Add flour. Cook butter and flour together for 1 min. (It will look clumpy and gross, but keep going!). Gradually add milk during that 1 min. Stir. Cook on medium heat until thick and bubbly. Add salt, pepper, potatoes, 1/2 c. bacon, 1 c. cheese, sour cream. Cook on medium heat until well heated. Add milk as needed. Sprinkle extra cheese/bacon on top when serving.

--Here are some flour-free suggestions I've come up with through various sources.

Cooking the flour and butter together just makes a thickening agent. I think you could just forego the flour altogether, melt the butter and follow the rest of the directions. I'm told that you can take a few cups of the soup (pre-potatoes), put it in a blender to fluff it up for a little bit, and then add it back to the rest of the soup. Supposedly this will thicken it too.

Or you could substitute corn starch, but even using the 2 parts flour = 1 part cornstarch rule, that's a lot of corn starch! You might want to experiment with a lot less and just add some if you need it (but you'll need to mix it with water or something to get the lumps out before pouring it into the soup if you're going to add it later).

Also, I don't usually put bacon in it. I like the flavor of the bacon, but I don't like the texture of bacon that has been swimming around in soup and getting soggy.

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Now I'm really hungry. Good thing I'm taking an early lunch today.

I don't really have any super-exciting news to report. I did go to Alias last night where my suspicions that Irena is still alive were confirmed. I'm pretty sure that everyone on that show is indestructible. Nobody ever really dies....except Emily (but she gets to come back in Sloane's subconscious) and maybe Dixon's wife. It's kind of like watching Days of Our lives. You can't really mourn anyone's death because you know that they aren't really gone forever.

I'm a day behind on my Beth Moore study. Bah. I'll catch up tonight though.

Hayden just sent me this. I think it's pretty funny.

David Letterman's Top 10 Drawbacks to Working in a Cubicle



10. Being told to "think outside the box" when you're in a freakin' box all day long.



9. Not being able to check e-mail attachments without turning around to see who's behind you.



8. Cubicle walls do not offer much protection from any kind of gun fire.



7. That nagging feeling that if you press the right button, you'll get a piece of cheese.



6. Lack of roof rafters for the noose.



5. The walls are too close together for the hammock to work right.



4. 23 power cords - 1 outlet.



3. Prison cells are not only bigger, they also have beds.



2. The carpet has been there since 1976 and shows more signs of life than your coworkers.



And the Number 1 drawback to working in a cubicle is...



1. You can't walk out and slam the door when you quit.