potatoes – Makin' it Mo'Betta

Truffle fries. WHERE have you been all my life?! I’m forty…something…and have just recently tried them. And I owe it all to Lay’s potato chips. Seriously! You know how they’ve chosen ideas from people and made limited quantities of that flavor chip…then people vote on their favorites and it gets added to the potato chip line? Well, you may or may not know that one of the flavors was West Coast Truffle Fries and I decided to try them. Honestly, I wasn’t all that impressed with the chip. However, it got me curious about the elusive truffle oil (ordinarily I avoid all things mushroom related) but decided this needed to go on my Foodie Bucket List. Do you have one? I know some of you do…I’m lookin’ at you !

I’ve made these a couple of times, and somehow, this is my only picture. (I lost a bunch of pics when my previous computer died.) The picture looks better on . I’m sure these are not restaurant quality truffle fries, nor do I have expensive truffle oil (mine is a blend that I got from TJ Maxx), but…it’s SO GOOD! I plan on making more this week!

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:13]

Recipe adapted from

Even though I will not eat mushrooms (truffles are a type of rare mushroom for those of you wondering why I keep referring to mushrooms), I am all about some truffle oil now!

Have you tried these before? Are you Team Mushroom?
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I know there has been a lot of soup going on around here, but this chick has been cold. This one is pure comfort food too…full of creamy potatoes, loaded with bacon…yep, it’s a stick to your ribs winter soup. And thankfully those ribs are covered with layers of sweaters, jackets and scarves right now because I ate a lot of this soup. Seriously, I can’t worry about swimsuit season until I can feel my fingers again.

This is a thick, creamy soup…but you can decide if you want yours super smooth, super chunky, or anywhere in between. I am a slightly chunky girl. And that can be taken quite literally at the moment. #wearingmyfatpants. If my kids don’t get back into a regular school schedule (my kids haven’t been to school more than a half day since Feb.13th! And today…a delay), and we don’t all get and stay well (we’ve had strep, multiple colds, ear infections, bronchitis, back issues…all going on since December!), I am going to lose my mind. LOSE IT I tell you! {maybe already gone?!}

Dress up your soup with cheese, green onions, red pepper flakes, sour cream…whatever you like. It’s ALL good.

Homemade Potato Soup

6 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 small onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
8 cups chicken broth

6 whole small to medium sized Russet potatoes
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt, to taste *start with 1/2 tsp and add if needed
ground black pepper, to taste

*Toppings: Shredded cheese, green onion, red pepper, sour cream, etc. (optional)

Cook bacon in large stock pot. Remove bacon pieces. Discard all but 1 tablespoon bacon grease. (or dump all the grease and add a little olive oil)
Add onions, carrots, and celery to pot and saute until onions begin to soften and become translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
Add broth to pot, bring to boil. Boil for approx 5 minutes.
*This step is optional* Use an immersion blender to puree vegetables (or place in blender). Once blended, add potatoes, bacon (See Notes), salt and pepper to pot with pureed vegetables and stock. Bring back to a boil, and cook for 10 minutes.
Whisk together flour and milk, add to soup, boil for additional 5 minutes.
Reduce heat to simmer, remove 1/2-2/3 of soup mixture (depending on desired texture of soup) and blend until smooth. Pour back into pot. Add additional salt and/or pepper if needed. Stir in cream and serve with desired toppings.

Notes: I pureed my carrots/onions/celery, but left some of my potatoes in chunks. This requires extra steps (I love my immersion blender) but my kids do not eat chunks of veggies in soup. It just depends on how you like things. If you want a completely smooth soup, you can puree everything together at the end. Also, if you want a lot of smoky, bacon flavor in your soup, add the bacon in when you add the potatoes; if you want less bacon flavor in the soup, leave it out until ready to serve and use it as a crispy garnish. I like it either way.

Recipe adapted from

You really can’t beat comfort food like this on really cold snowy days. However, I’m ready for Spring!! Maybe that will make me want to eat salads? Lordy, let’s hope so.

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