Potato Soup and Rosemary Bread

I LOVE potato soup. Raised in Idaho, I grew up on potato soup in the winter and my mom makes some of the best stuff I've ever had. She never measures or keeps track of what she adds. I've kind of adopted the same tradition (unintentionally). The basics are boiling water and adding potatoes and a thickener. Anything else is for flavor and you can pretty much add whatever you want. This is the recipe I made the other day (as far as I can remember). You can add or take out whatever you'd like and it will still taste great. The best part is it makes a lot and is cheap! Also, I bought a bread machine at Goodwill a few months ago and am loving it. I need to write a French Bread recipe I've been making a lot...it's great. Anyhow, below is the rosemary bread I made the other night. I loved it.

Potato Soup

5-6 c. water

3-4 boullion cubes

6-8 potatoes peeled and diced

1-2 small onions

3 stalks celery

3-4 c. chopped broccoli and cauliflower

1/3 c. butter

1/3 c. flour

1 c. cream/milk or 1 small can of evaporated milk

salt and pepper to taste

Hormel bacon

Bring water and boullion to boil, add potatoes, onions, celery and broccoli and boil until softened (about 10-15 mins). When veggies are almost done cooking, in another pan make a roux with the butter and flour. Beat the cream/milk into the roux until thickened. Pour and mix into the soup until thickened. Add bacon, salt and pepper. Top with green onions, cheese, whatever!

Rosemary Bread (for bread machine)

1 c. water
3 T. olive oil
1 1/2 t.white sugar
1 1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. Italian seasoning
1/4 t. ground black pepper
1 T. dried rosemary
2 1/2 c. bread flour
1 1/2 t. active dry yeast

Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer (I just added them from the top down). Select white bread cycle and light crust; press Start.