Potato Soup 2 Ways

Gluten-Free, Dairy Free, Potato Soup

We have tried at least half a dozen different potato soup recipes, from the copycat Zuppa Tuscana, to Czech garlic potato, loaded backed potato, mushroom potato, etc.  This is our favorite.  This is an easy soup, flexible, easily modifiable, and makes a ton... 1.5-2 gallons worth.

While it does make 25 1 cup servings, and you might be tempted to cut it back, I would cation you not to.  It keeps well, the proportions start getting weird when you cut it down, and really, you will eat more than 1 cup of it at a time.

The reason I say "Potato Soup 2 Ways" is that we often make it meatless on Friday, and then add sausage to it on Saturday, and it is almost completely different. We also use Almond milk, and honestly, I think it works better, and freezes better.

Ingredients

Base:
1-2 Tbs oil (or drippings from bacon/sausage)                 
4 Stalks Celery, small dice                                   
1 Large Sweet Onion, small dice
1/2 Cup Flour
1/2 gal Vegetable or Chicken stock
4 lbs. potatoes, peeled, diced
2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Slap Ya Mama (or other Cajun seasoning, may need to cut back on salt)
Pepper to taste
2 Cups Unsweetened Almond Milk

Additions:
1 1b. bacon cut into pieces
2 lbs. Polish/Smoked Sausage (We use Conecuh Sausage) cut into pieces
Cheese
Green Onions/Chives
Sour Cream

Procedure

1. (Meat-Free) Sauté onion and celery in oil in large pot/dutch oven until beginning to soften.
1a. (Meat) Brown sausage until cooked through in large pot/dutch oven, remove with slotted spoon.
1b. (Meat)  Sauté onion and celery in drippings until beginning to soften.
2. Add flour and stir until color starts to change.
3. Add half of stock, stir.
4. Add potato and rest of stock.  Gentle boil until cooked through.
4b. (Meat) While potatoes are boiling, cook bacon and crumble.
5. Once potatoes are cooked add Almond Milk, blend soup in batches, or use an immersion blender.  (If you like some pieces of potato, don't blend it all)
6. (Meat) Add Sausage and heat through.

Top as desired.  Sometimes I'll add the bacon in with the sausage, but I really prefer the crispy bacon on top, with a healthy dose of cheddar cheese.

Enjoy!