Quick and Easy Meals: Bacon and Mushroom Mashed Potato Soup

Just the other day I had a huge bowl of leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge and no desire to make the usual grilled [insert meat here] with mashed potatoes and veg. So I scoured the web for left over mashed potato recipes. Of course, the majority of the recipes I came across involved ground meat in one way or another, which isn't a bad thing; it's just that I have a tendency to rely far too heavily on ground meat dishes. What can I say, it's cheap, easy and generally makes a nice meal, but one can feed their family only so many tacos, burgers, meat loaves, lasagnas, plates of spaghetti, bowls of chili, etc. Am I right?



So my search continued, until I came across this recipe for Mashed Potato Soup on Allrecipes.com.Now, I love making soup, which means this recipes was right up my ally. But of course, with pretty much any recipe I encounter I had to put my own spin on it. So using the Allrecipes mashed potato soup as a base, here's what I came up with:

Bacon and Mushroom Mashed Potato Soup

1 Small onion, chopped
2 Cups leftover mashed potatoes (I like to make mine with the skins on for added texture)
21/2 - 3 cups of 1% milk
1 cup sliced mushrooms
4 slices of bacon (+1 extra for the dog lol)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 chopped green onions

1. Cook bacon in a skilled till crispy. Remove bacon to paper towel lined plate. Reserve dripping.
2. Saute onions in bacon drippings till soft. Add mushrooms partway through.
3. Transfer mushroom and onion mixture to a large pot. Add potatoes and milk.Heat through on medium heat. Whisk frequently to incorporate and to prevent burning. Add salt and pepper to your taste.
4.  Once the soup is hot, transfer to bowls, crumble bacon and add to bowls along with shredded cheese and green onions.

Super easy and really tasty. Simply omit the bacon for a meat-free meal.