Marsha's Irish Loaded Potato Soup

I was looking around for some recipes for St. Patrick's Day because I got invited to a pot luck party. I ended up trying three new things that I saw on Pinterest and they all turned out great! I have actually made this soup twice now because it was so good... but I did change the original recipe just a touch. If you want to see the original recipe, click on the link below, but be warned that the instructions (as of this post) are rather poor. It appears that some parts were copy-and-pasted multiple times, making things confusing:

http://www.examiner.com/article/meatless-irish-potato-soup-can-be-enjoyed-during-lent-or-st-patrick-s-day

I have no idea what makes this soup "Irish" other than its base is potatoes. Either way, it is a delicious treat. You could add other veggies that you like, such as corn or diced onion instead of onion powder.

Marsha's Irish Loaded Potato Soup

1/4 cup butter
3 cups peeled, diced potatoes (tiny bite-sized)
1 celery rib thinly sliced
salt and pepper to taste
Onion powder (to taste, 1/2 tsp)
1/4 cup shredded carrot
1/4 cup pre-cooked crumbled bacon (1/2-1 pkg precooked bacon)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup flour
1 cube chicken bouillon
3-4 ish cups milk
1 tsp dried parsley
Garlic salt to taste
2 cups freshly shredded cheddar cheese

In a large pot, add butter, potatoes and celery. Cover and cook over medium heat until potatoes and celery are tender. While cooking, season with salt, pepper and onion powder. When you think your potatoes and celery are a couple minutes from being done, add your carrot, bacon, and garlic. Cook for about 2 minutes. Add flour. Stir to coat veggies in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes to reduce the raw flour taste. (The flour will probably soak up any liquid in the pot.) Add bouillon, 3 cups milk and parsley. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened almost to your perfect consistency. (Remember that you will add cheese later and it will continue to thicken some.) If the soup tightens up too quickly, add enough additional milk to loosen things up before adding your cheese. Right before you add your cheese, you will want to taste-test the soup. At this stage, I often find the soup lacking and a light sprinkling of garlic powder over the entire pot adds so much great flavor. Stir and test again. Once you are happy with the soup, remove the pot from heat and stir in the cheese. Once cheese is melted and incorporated, serve.

*Be careful with the salt at first because you will be adding cheese later that can up the salt flavor, plus the garlic salt at the end. Dice your potatoes and celery small, thinking that you will be eating this with a spoon. If you like it chunkier, use bigger pieces. The first time I made it, I did larger pieces. It was kind of hard to eat, so I tried smaller the second time. I liked it smaller better so I could fit several pieces on my spoon at once and the soup cooked a lot faster with the small pieces.

If your carrot is shredded, it should cook up really fast and only need to be added at the last minute with the bacon and garlic. If you use bigger chunks of carrot, then you will need to add them at the beginning with the potatoes and celery. I used shredded carrot because I could shred it really fast with my Salad Shooter.

I am lazy, so I keep a jar of minced garlic in oil in my fridge, and it is great for recipes like this.

Do not continue to boil the soup after the cheese has been added or the soup will go grainy because you cooked the protein in the cheese. For the creamiest soup, use freshly grated cheese and do not add it until you take the soup off the heat.