October is soup month

We have recently decided to try something new at the Mountain Home News. The staff is always looking for ways to bring items of interest to our pages while encouraging reader involvement.
Last week I posted on both our facebook pages and the website that we are wanting to try something new by bringing recipes to the paper.
The idea is to come up with a monthly recipe theme that I will let you know in the last issue of each proceeding month. I am asking for readers to submit their favorite recipes that go along with each theme to me at editor@mountainhomenews.com or bring them into the newspaper office for consideration for submission in one of our weekly issues.
The idea has seemed to get a lot of interest online, but we have not received any recipes yet so I am hoping that by throwing one out there this week it will help get the ball rolling.
The theme that was chosen for the month of October was soup. Most people get all excited for pumpkin spice season in the fall, but I get excited at the thought of all types off different delicious soups we can make at home. Like my summer time foil packs I think my family may get a little sick of soup in the cold months. I am putting my "base" recipe for potato soup in here, but have to say a little bit about my cooking style.
First off I don't really follow directions and things like soup recipes are very loosely adapted. For instance this recipe calls for heavy cream, I don't keep heavy cream at my house very often and hate last minute trips to the grocery store so I usually make a roux out of equal parts butter ( any fat really) and flour mixed with milk to thicken the recipe. While this recipe is very flavorful on its own I normally add some heat with some dice jalapenos, cayenne pepper ( I use cayenne like most people use salt or pepper) and maybe a few dashes of hot sauce. It really just depends on the day. Oh and even though it is already a calorie laden meal a few handfuls of grated cheese melted in at the end never hurts. And yes that is usually how I measure things, by the handful and by the pinch.
So take this recipe, change it up to suit your family's taste and enjoy it on these cool fall days.
Please consider sending in a recipe and participating in this new portion of the paper. There is nothing I enjoy more than hearing from our readers.
Ingredients:
1 lb of bacon
2 stalks celery, diced
1 onion, chopped
3 to 5 cloves garlic, minced
8 potatoes peeled, chop all but a third of them and then finely dice the last third (these break down and help thicken your soup)
4 cups stock or enough to cover potatoes.
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
or you can use heavy cream to thicken
1 teaspoon tarragon
3 teaspoons cilantro
salt and pepper to taste.
Directions:
Cook bacon over medium heat until done, Remove bacon from pan and drain off all but 1/4 cup of the grease.
Cook celery and onion in bacon drippings until onion is soft. Add the garlic and cook for one or two minutes. Add the potatoes and toss to coat in grease, sauteing for about five minutes. Return most of the bacon back to the pan, reserving some as a garnish for serving. Add enough stock to cover the potatoes, simmer until potatoes are tender.
In a separate sauce pan melt butter over medium heat and whisk in flour. Cook while constantly stirring for one to two minutes. Add in the milk and remaining seasonings. Bring the mixture to a boil cook until slightly thickened, stirring constantly. Add the mixture to the potatoes and cook until melded. Season to suit your tastes.