. . . God bless her

One evening not long after the husband and I got married, we were trying to decide what to have for dinner.  It was just one of those days where you stand before the open refrigerator and/or pantry shelves staring at all the options and finally announce, "We don't have ANYTHING to eat."  It's not that there isn't any food.  It's that nothing looks like the thing you want to eat right now.

In desperation, I turned to him and asked, "If you could have anything you wanted for dinner (ignoring what you see here), what would it be?"  He thought for a while and then said, "Well...I'd really like some potato soup."  Now, I'm no slouch.  I figured if he wanted potato soup, then he must have a particular recipe in mind.  Because, let's be real.  There are a lot of variations on potato soup out there.  I asked him when he had last eaten potato soup.  I wasn't too surprised to find that it was his mother's potato soup that he was wanting to eat.  So, I called his mom.

My mother-in-law, God bless her, is a very sweet lady.  She's kind, thoughtful, eager to please, generous.  She has many talents and has spent most of her life helping others.  She's thrifty and healthy.

As she read me the recipe, I was first a little surprised at some of the ingredients.  But, as she continued, it just sounded so good.  I was busy imagining how it would taste and I kind of forgot that it was my very health conscious  mother-in-law who was giving me this recipe.  We hung up.  I made the soup.  The husband ate it (I did, too) and declared it a success.

There's nothing like a successful food adventure to give you confidence.  That soup recipe got a lot of use over the next couple of months.  I served it several times when different friends came over on Friday evenings.  Everyone loved it.  So, it just seemed natural to pull that recipe out again the next time the in-laws came for a visit.

I prepared the soup and served it in individual sized boule (with the tops cut off and the insides pulled out and toasted).  Because the in-laws were here, we had several aunties and cousins over to share a meal while we all visited.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the soup and thought eating out of a little round loaf of French bread was fun.

Suddenly, my mother-in-law (God bless her) asked, "This is so good...where did you get the recipe?"  I nearly fell off my chair!  As the husband started snickering, I gave him a swift kick in the shins while I collected my thoughts, took a deep breath, and carefully replied, "Well...I got it from you."

"You DID?"

"Yes.  Remember when I called you a couple of months ago to ask for your potato soup recipe?"

"Wow!  It doesn't taste like this when I make it."  We all dissolved into laughter.

Later, after everyone had left, the husband and I laughed until the tears ran as we recalled her statement and the reaction from the others.  You see, my mother-in-law (God bless her) rarely makes a recipe the way it is written.  Her dietary restrictions compel her to substitute anything she finds to be unacceptable.  So, as you read through this recipe, imagine it sans sour cream, salt, and seasonings. And scrambled tofu in place of scrambled eggs.  No wonder she didn't recognize her own recipe!

My dear mother-in-law. . . God bless her!

 

Potato Soup

INGREDIENTS

1	medium onion, minced
1	T vegetable oil
4	Eggs, scrambled and separated into very small pieces
2	qts water
2	t kosher salt
4	pkts George Washington Broth (Golden)*
4	boiled potatoes, cubed
1	pt sour cream
4	Boule (round loaves of French bread)

Garnish:

	green onion, thinly sliced
	parsley, minced

Directions

1. Sauté onion in oil.  Removed from skillet.  Using the same skillet, scramble eggs and separate into very small pieces.

2. Heat water in a large pot.  Season with salt & GW broth packets.  Add potatoes.  Bring to boil to heat potatoes through.

3. Reduce heat.  Stir in sautéed onion, scrambled eggs and sour cream.

4. Remove from heat before soup boils.

5. To serve in boule, cut off the top of the loaf and remove most of the insides.  Toast the bread that was removed.  (It can be dipped into the soup to soak up liquid, as desired.)  Spoon soup into the boule and lean the toasted top against the bowl.  Garnish, as desired.

 

* George Washington Broth is a vegetarian bouillon.  You can use chicken bouillon cubes or (one of my favorites) Better Than Bouillon (chicken flavor) paste.