The conversation at the dinner table on New Year’s Day was beginning to take an unpleasant turn.
Son Tom had said the only thing he wanted for Christmas was for me to clean the office, and there followed some unflattering comments by almost everyone in the group about the office’s untidy condition.
About 10 steps from the carport is the office. It contains a large room where I have my little clutter corner and an office corner for Tom, which he protects from clutter as a tigress does her cub; my Ed’s office, which he has been in twice in the last 10 years; a small dark room where I, in times past, enjoyed photo processing; an even smaller rest room; and a storage room. All the rooms are full.
“I don’t understand,” our son-in-law Ron Smith said, “how a 16-by-20 building can hold 19 tons of recyclable and landfill material.”
“It’s neither recyclable nor landfill material,” I answered with only a touch of huffiness, making a mental note to call our lawyer and change the will.
So the next day Tom thought I was starting on the office. I wasn’t. I was making potato soup.
The recipe is from the Taste of Home magazine collector’s edition published in 1994. Diligently I have tried to get in touch with the magazine’s editors for permission to reprint. I couldn’t, but my heart is in the right place, and I hope I don’t get sued.
There will be times this month and next when soup is just what you need for a cold, rainy, windy day, and this one will be a good choice. The recipe was submitted by Mrs. Gladys DeBoer of Castleford, Idaho, and if you give me a minute, I perhaps can connect Mrs. DeBoer to South Carolina Baptists.
Okay. Wait. Here it is. We are celebrating 400 years of Baptist history. The first baptismal service of adult believers was performed in Amsterdam, Holland, in 1606 by John Smyth, one of the group of English Christians (a.k.a Dissenters), worshiping there. They called themselves Baptists. Mrs. DeBoer was born in Holland of Dutch ancestry. Her husband Harold was born on a Dutch farm.
In commenting on the soup, Mrs. DeBoer, according to Taste of Home, said the original recipe called for bacon fat and heavy cream but she trimmed it down. When I made the soup, I added small pieces of Christmas ham with the potatoes, carrots and celery. That was good. I also found I needed to add liquid for a good consistency. Using cream for part of the milk ingredients would be good. I cut the ingredients in half for my Ed and me, and that worked well.
Please don’t sue, Taste of Home and Mrs. DeBoer. All over South Carolina, people will thank you for your delicious recipe, especially on a blustery day for … Sunday Dinner.
Hearty Potato Soup
6 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced or cubed
2 carrots, diced
6 celery stalks, diced
2 quarts water
1 onion, chopped
6 tablespoons butter or margarine (or bacon drippings?)
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1½ cups milk
In a large kettle, cook potatoes, carrots and celery in water until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain, reserving liquid and setting vegetables aside.
In same kettle, sauté onion in butter until soft. Stir in flour, salt and pepper and gradually add milk, stirring constantly until thickened.
Gently stir in cooked vegetables. Add 1 cup or more of the reserved cooking liquid until soup is desired consistency. Yields 8-10 servings (about 2½ quarts).