Brrr....

Here in Buffalo, like most of the country right now, we are going through a blast of cold. One of my favorite things to do when it's this cold is to make baked potato soup. It's really simple and sooooo yummy! This is fantastic with some crusty bread and butter.

Here is how I make my Baked Potato Soup.

• 4 large baking potatoes
• 6 c milk
• 4 green onions (sliced)
• 2/3 c flour
• 2 c cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2/3 c butter
• 12 or so slices bacon, cooked & crumbled
• salt & pepper to taste

Bake potatoes and cool. Peel off skins and dice. Melt butter in heavy saucepan. Add about 2 cups milk to saucepan. Combine half of the flour and 1 cup of milk in shaker. Shake and slowly add to pan. Do the same to the rest of the flour and milk, until all combined. Cook over medium heat until thickened. Make sure to keep stirring so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Add potatoes, onions, cheese, bacon, salt & pepper; cook until thoroughly heated.

Somewhere in the original recipe there was sour cream. The person who gave this to me doesn't like sour cream so she deleted it. It's tasty without it, but feel free to add it if you like.

When I made this for my vegetarian mother I deleted the bacon and then just added it to each individual bowl after dished up. You can also do that with the green onion. This recipe is also very good with ham instead of bacon or add broccoli instead of any meat.

After I had a bowl of soup I had the best dessert. These huge delicious carmel apples from Double Dipped Sweets arrived at my door earlier in the day. I love getting mail. I received the Almond Rocca Caramel Apple and the Peanut Butter and Chocolate Caramel Apple. Her apples are fantastic!! I would definitely recommend you try one.