Loaded Potato Soup

Ingredients:
* Potatoes - peeled, washed and quartered (you can use red, gold or russet)
* Yellow or sweet onion - peeled & diced
* Garlic salt
* 3 TBS corn starch mixed in approx 1.5 cups hot tap water
* Milk
* Butter
* Cheddar cheese (for topping)
* Diced green onions (optional) for topping
* Crumbled bacon (optional) for topping

Put diced potatoes and onions in soup pot (I use one of my larger pots so that I have plenty of leftovers!).  Cover potatoes and onions with water until water line is about an inch above the potatoes.  Add garlic salt and boil until potatoes are tender but not mushy.  Stir the corn starch mixture well and add the entire amount to the pot.  Reduce heat to simmer.  This will thicken the broth.

Add a touch of milk until broth turns more of a white color.  Add butter (to taste - in my large pot, I put about a half a stick....no one said this was a healthy dish!).  Stir until well mixed and let simmer until all butter is melted.  Soup will thicken upon sitting and will be even thicker as left overs (if you want it thinned a bit days following, just add a touch of milk).

Ladel soup into bowl and add grated cheddar cheese and the other optional toppings.  I also add fresh ground pepper and saltine crackers to mine.

Making this soup is a great way to use up any potatoes that are getting close to extinction in your pantry.  I usually make this soup on grocery day when I am bringing home a fresh batch of potatoes and need to get rid of the week prior potatoes.