Christmas Black Friday Sale at Lulu - BLACKFRIDAY25 · 8:54pm Nov 29th, 2019
If you’ve been putting off buying your Christmas pony books until they’re less expensive, now’s the time. Head on over to PonyFeather Publishing (and the Friends of PFP tab), grab your credit card, and don’t forget the discount code up in the title. You can buy Georg’s own books on Lulu also. We have romantic horses, pranking princesses, adorable seaponies, and one overpowered little monster who could destroy the entire world if she loses her temper. So shake off that tryptophan coma and give the gift of friendship (and romantic horses) to your unsuspecting relatives this year.
To help save that money you’re going to need, I’m going to share my recipe for Cheapskate Potato Soup below the break.
Yeah, there’s nothing to making potato soup. Chop up some potatoes, add some milk and butter, and cook. Put that oversimplified concept to one side for now and let’s start.
Ingerdients (because this is so cheap we don’t eve spellchek)
- 4-5 big potatoes
- container 16 oz sour cream, generic is fine (Optional: makes the soup taste tart and not really needed unless you like tart soup)
- half stick of butter (not margarine) Quarter-stick if you're trying to stay thinner.
- can of Campbell's Cream of Celery Soup
- can of peas and carrots, cubed not sliced, drained (Or one full can of peas and one of carrots, if you like more veggies)
- can of corn, drained
- about a half cup or a cup of milk depending on how soupy you want it
- part of an onion, or dried onions, depending on how much you like onions. Or package of generic Onion Soup Mix will do just fine.
- Lawry's seasoned salt and whatever pepper you have
A wooden spoon, a plate to put the spoon on (don’t get the counter all messy)
Get out your crockpot first. Clean it. Yeah, dirt at the bottom doesn’t help. Don’t have one? It’s Black Friday. They’re on sale all around town for about five bucks. Do the math.
Start with your potatoes, the big honking kind, not those expensive little round things that are supposed to go into soup. These are the potatoes that are on sale for like ten pounds for a dollar. Wash them, then wash them again because they’re filthy. Cut out the dark spots, cut into strips and then cube the strips about a quarter inch thick or you’re gonna wind up with giant chunks of uncooked potato in your soup and that’s not good. Might want to add another potato or two, depending on how cheap you are. Don’t use the whole bag. That’s overkill.
Set them aside and get out your can opener. Some specifics here. Use REAL Campbell's Cream of Celery Soup. The generic sucks. Use real butter, because margarine is just veggie oil. Generic peas and carrots are fine, provided you get the cubed carrots (the sliced ones wind up huge and undercooked). The corn can be regular, or creamed. I accidentally used creamed on the first batch I made and it turned out pretty good, so your mileage may vary. DRAIN each can if applicable. You want the soup thick, not full of water.
Grate the onion, or use onion powder or even dried. Chunks of onion in potato soup are no fun. If you used a package of Lipton's Onion Soup Mix, don’t add salt below. (it’s salty as heck)
Put everything but the milk and potatoes into the crock pot. Salt a little (about a quarter TEAspoon) and pepper to taste (I used about a half-teaspoon but I like pepper). Use your wooden spoon (metal spoon will scratch up your crock pot) to stir everything up.
Now put in the cubed potatoes and stir some. Don’t go nuts. Don’t add so many that it spills over the top. If you’ve got leftover cubed potatoes that won’t fit, put ‘em in the fridge for now in a container. We’ll get back to them.
Now add milk and stir until the whole mess looks disgusting and gloops. That’s perfect.
Set the crock pot on high and ignore for the first hour. If you’re feeling like an intervention, stir the contents every 20 minutes and put that gunky wooden spoon back on the plate, you barbarian. I’m not your mother, and I don’t need to clean up after you every day.
By now, you’re hungry, but it’s going to be two-three hours before you can eat. The whole mess should gloop gently while cooking. Taste-test a potato slice every time you stir. If it crunches, you're not done.
Get out that bowl of leftover potato cubes. Sprinkle a little sugar in it, add enough flour to cover the bits, and toss gently until all the potato bits have flour on them. Salt and pepper fairly vigorously.
Get out a frying pan that will hold them all. Add some vegetable oil, turn up the heat to water dancing… what, you don’t know what water dancing is?
Kids today. Get the pan hot, then drip some water in. If the drops sit there, it’s too cool. If the drops burst into vapor, it’s too hot. If the drops of water dance around like crazy before vanishing, it’s perfect. (By the way, that’s how you make perfect pancakes too, so take note.)
Now put in the flour-covered leftover potatoes. Every five-ten minutes, use a pancake flipper to rotate (or they’ll char right to the surface of the pan and stick). After about thirty minutes, they may be done. Try one. Blow on it first or you’ll burn your… Oh, you did. Drink some milk. Try another one after another ten minutes of frying. Eventually, you’ll lose patience and eat them all. That’s fine.
Suggestions and complaints in the comments. If you burn your tongue, don’t come crying to me.
Ho hum, nothing to see here... *quietly steals yummy potato soup recipe*
FYI: I ran the numbers, and I've now sold 229 books. Um... Minus the Traveling Tutor books that didn't sell at Bronycon, and the ten or so I bought for gifts.
I liked the filthy part
I ordered 3 copies for gifts for people.
Might as well face it, you're addicted to Spuds
5162046 up to 294 books now.
5162043 I updated the recipe to take out the sour cream if you're really cheap, or just don't like the tart taste of sour cream.
5162055 Hey, I know my audience.
5162096 Thank you!
5162170 Ain't we all. They're the shrimp of all states except Louisiana.
5172882
Strewth. Also picked up a couple of books for a friend. Keep up the good work, may your days be merry & bright, etc etc.
I want some of this soup, but I'd have to buy a second crock pot to make it. Sadness abounds.