Crock Pot: Potato Soup

My mom makes amazing home made potato soup. The kind where it warms your soul and you know exactly where home is no matter where you are when you have it. She freezes it in portion sizes for the family ever since the start. Once off to college, she made the portions smaller to take home and have on a cold lonely day. Seeing as its been cold and mom is preoccupied, I started on my own endeavor into potato soup, home made, Kate style.

I have a small old fashioned crock pot which makes more than enough for me but enough for leftovers you don't get tired of. Five heat settings; literally 1-5 on the dial for heat.

Ingredients:

1 Can of chicken broth (Swanson's)
- 1 can of this water
2 cans of Campbell's cream of potato
- 1 can of this water
1/2 cup milk
6 potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1/2'' cubes
1 carrot stick chopped (I used 5 carrot pieces from the bag i bought for lunches)
1 celery stick chopped
1/2 white onion diced
1 cup of sharp cheddar cheese

I put all wet ingredients in the pot and mix; the cream of potato is paste-like. Crank up the pot to 5. Chop and peel the veggies; dump them in. Stir. Let it go.

I left and went shopping and running errands from 2-5 (3 hours).

I probably prematurely took my emulsion blender to the mixture (smelling amazing). Get it all creamy and smooth. Add the milk and cheese. At this point I turned it down to 2.5 and let it stew for another 2 hours. By 7 hours total, my soup was thick, creamy and delicious. I would probably leave it to stew all day, blend when I got home and by dinner, its ready.

Either way, I added a little shredded cheese to the top and it was like I was at home all over again. Kate Insight: It has to be eaten out of a mug. Once the extra cheese is melted, its thick and creamy to drink or use a spoon.  No extra spices or complications. EZ as 1-2-3. Home was in the air.

At the same time, I've never felt so lonely. My own home, rented, Bones laying by my side- something's missing. A family, friends, or someone to share this with. I get it. Been there before. "Wifing season is upon us." So what do I do? Start watching every episode of Sex and the City. What better than knowing I have no female best friend close with the type of time in which I have. I wish I had a closet like Carrie.  The only BIG in my life is my car.

I'm oddly unsatisfied yet happy. The phrase that haunts me, "you'll never be satisfied in anything you do or have in your life. Something will always be needing to excite, enhance or change to satisfy you, for some time." In this moment I wish I could be someone else. But, that wouldn't satisfy me either. ::SIGH::

Soup, Wine and something else to snack on as I start or continue something to attempt to satisfy me. Home with Mom and Dad is where I'll be.... and Bones.

P.S. Should have Named Bones after shoes. Today he is the flip-flip bandit. As he lays with one that went missing days ago... sneaky bastard.