Creamy Potato-Cheese Soup

Cooking for a crowd - expecting 100 wedding guests

In preparation for the wedding dinner, I wanted to prepare a really tasty soup that would appeal to a wide variety of ages. In the month before the wedding, I prepared each of the potato soup recipes in my cookbook, to compare them. Our family had some variety of potato soup for dinner quite a few times that month, while my husband and I decided which we liked best. We settled on this Creamy Potato-Cheese Soup recipe. I had hoped that we could make a lot of it ahead of time, freeze it, and then warm it in crockpots for the event, but none of the recipes I tried froze and re-warmed well. They all lost their texture, and a lot of the flavor too. So we decided to prep them all in the morning before the dinner. We prepared 6 recipes of the potato soup (in 3 crockpots) and 6 recipes of a carrot soup (in 3 crockpots). That's why we had 6 crockpots lined up on the countertop. Another lady brought a third soup, so I only had to make enough for approximately 66 servings. It was quite a production! I'll share the carrot soup with you in a future post. I didn't quite plan enough time to prepare and cook all of those soups, so it came right down to the wire - whether or not they would be ready on time. Fortunately, to my immense relief, we finished them in the nick of time, they tasted great and were a big hit at the dinner.

Creamy Potato-Cheese Soup

Yield: 6-8 servings
4  Potatoes, cut in 1/2" cubes (abt 4 cups)
4 C Water
1 C Chopped carrots
1 C Chopped celery
1 C Chopped onions
4 tsp Chicken bouillon granules
1/2 C Butter
1/2 C Flour
4 C Half & Half
6 oz Swiss cheese, grated
4 oz Sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 tsp Freshly-ground pepper, to taste

Cook vegetables in water and bouillon until tender. Meanwhile, in a separate pan, melt the butter. Add flour to make a roux. Simmer for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly, then slowly add the Half & Half. Stir in the cheeses. Keep heat moderate, so that the cheese melts, but the mixture doesn't boil and cause the cream to separate. Add cheese sauce to the cooked vegetables. Add pepper to taste. Serve warm.

Wedding Sugar Cookies

I decided to bake about 200 of my favorite sugar cookies for my daughter's wedding reception. I had plenty of time, so I baked them in double batches and froze them until the big day. The only thing I had to do the week of the wedding, was to coat them all quickly with a little glaze and a candy decoration. (Note: I should have taken a picture when they were fresh, because the glaze looked much better. These have been frozen post-wedding, and the glaze doesn't fare well in the freezer.)

Best Ever Sugar Cookies

Yield: 20 cookies

1 C Butter, softened
2/3 C Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Almond extract
2-1/2 C Flour

Frosting/Glaze:
3/4 C Powdered sugar
1 TB Milk
1/4 tsp Almond extract

Cream softened butter and sugar together. Add egg and extract. Mix thoroughly. Gently mix in flour until all is combined. Chill dough overnight (or at least 2 hours) in refrigerator. Roll dough on floured surface, 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes and place on baking sheet. Bake in 350 F. degree oven for 10-12 minutes.  These freeze well for storage, before glazing.

Glaze: Combine ingredients and spread thinly on cookies. Allow to dry completely before stacking. This may take several hours.

My SIL made them for a youth activity!