Cheesy Potato Soup

This is my favorite potato soup!  I actually took pictures the last time I made it and I wanted to share it on this blog.  I started with a cheesy potato soup I pulled from allrecipes.com, but then I did not like it very much.  So, I altered it and played around with it until I found a flavor I love!  Here it is...

4 cups water
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
5-7 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 cube butter
3-4 Collisimo sausages
10 oz Velveeta
2-3 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup w/ herbs (or without works as well)
2 cups milk
Parsley flakes
Montreal seasoning
Salt

In large pot melt butter and add chopped onion, saute.  Add water and potatoes.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium. 

Cover and let simmer until the potatoes are tender, usually 15-20 minutes.   Meanwhile cut skin off of the Collisimo sausages and shred the meat onto a frying pan.  I love Collisimo sausages, but you can probably use any sausage or bacon and it would still taste delicious.  You can also make this soup with no meat, it still taste great.

Fry the sausage meat until brown.  When the potatoes are tender, stir in sausages, milk, chicken soup, Montreal seasoning and salt.  I can't tell you exactly how much seasoning I put in, maybe 2-3 Tbls.  I do it by how it looks and then I usually add a little bit more at the end to taste.  You will have to play around with it and add what works for your family.

Heat until soup is nice and hot and then add Velveeta cheese.  After that has melted into the soup add the Mexican blend cheese and parsley flakes.  Melt cheese into the soup.  This makes about 8 servings.  I hope you all enjoy this tasty soup as much as my family does!

How To Raise Competitive Kids

It all starts with UNO or Skip-Bo.  At least in my family it does.  We are loud, we are obnoxious and we are not afraid to call each other names and scream when someone ruins our plans for the ultimate win.  Take this past Sunday for instance.  The four older kids and I were playing UNO on our kitchen table.  We were so loud and some times even violent (Kortnie nearly jumping over the table to yank cards out of Chandlers hand because he was taking too long) that when our home teachers from church showed up they thought we were playing full contact UNO!  Nothing unusual in my family when we get all together and enjoy a great card game.  Makayla growled under her breath, “You idiot” when Kortnie foiled her plans and Chandler screamed like a girl when mom sent his plans plummeting down the drain.  It is all fun and games and in the end we all laugh, but boy do I have some competitive kids.  Luckily none of them are poor losers, but spend the five minutes after playing telling each others plans to smear the others win into the past and bring their victory to the front and center.