Delicious Potato Soup Recipe

In my continuing coverage of winter time "comfort foods", I'd like to offer you one of my favorite dishes for a cold night.  My dad taught me how to make his wonderful potato soup years ago and recently shared with me that you can add sausage to it, similar to that of my all-time favorite Zuppa Toscana at the Olive Garden. 

If you're vegetarian, you can certainly omit the sausage and just boil the veggies together then drain and add the butter and milk, but if you are including the sausage, I recommend sauteing your sausage, onions, and potatoes together first, then adding to the other boiling veggies.

I also have begun to omit peeling the potatoes and leaving on the skins.  You get more vitamins that way and it's more hearty!  Also, it takes a lot less time if you don't have to peel all of those 'taters!

It's a pretty basic recipe, you'll need:
3-4 large russet potatoes (the regular brown kind)
about 5 fresh celery stalks
about 4-5 fresh carrot sticks
1 small yellow or white onion
1 pack of sausage (either the breakfast kind or Italian, but not maple or brown sugar flavored)
about 3/4 gallon of vitamin D (whole) milk (you can use 2% if you want to cut back a few calories, but it's much better with whole milk)
1 stick of butter (you can use margarine, but again it's tastier with real butter, so do Paula Deen proud and go on and use a whole stick of butter)

Brown and crumble sausage in a large skillet, while boiling pot of water
Chop potatoes and onion and add to half-cooked sausage to simmer in grease, stirring frequently to saute

Chop celery and carrots into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces, add to boiling water

Continue to boil until carrots and celery can be cut into easily with a knife, use spoon to remove a piece and test, should be almost cooked but left a little snappy, about 15-20 minutes
                                    
Add fully cooked sausage with simmering potatoes to boiling carrots and celery to continue cooking potatoes, do not drain grease, most will have absorbed into potatoes or will drain out with water later

Boil about 15 more minutes, test veggies with spoon and knife, when knife easily cuts into each piece, this is a matter of preference also, we like ours with just a little bit of "snap" left in the veggies but you might like yours completely "mushy",  drain water (this will remove any of the excessive grease)
Return pot to stove and add one stick of butter, stir until melted
                                    
Fill the rest of the pot with milk
Add salt and pepper to taste, heat to boiling stirring frequently

Use mostly medium heat for everything, adjusting as necessary

I serve mine with canned croissants. 

This soup stores and reheats very well.  In fact it is another one of those "next dayers".  I'm getting ready to heat some up for lunch right now!

Oh, and by the way.  I'm getting used to cooking with a camera beside me!  I'm going to have to start keeping it in my utensil drawer.

If you try this recipe, please let me know what you think.  If you have some other potato soup ideas, please share them with me!

Happy DIY'ing everyone!
-Amy the DIY Monkey