On a cold night there is nothing better than hot soup, especially fresh soup made with love.

Some of my favorites include Chicken Noodle, Potato Leek, and Loaded Potato Soup. They’re delicious and warm you from the inside out.

This recipe is pretty easy, with ingredients that can be picked up at any grocery store, well except the beer. I like that many grocery stores today have pre-cute veggies, which cut down on prep time.

We had a lot of soup left over from this recipe, but it reheated wonderfully for lunch the next day, so make a lot and spoil yourself at lunchtime!

You can find these ingredients at Giant.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium sweet onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 rib celery
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup milk
• 1 12-oz. Bottle light-bodied beer
• 2 large russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
• Sour cream, for topping
• Bacon, cooked crisp, for topping

Directions

1.     In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter.

2.     Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, and potatoes and sauté in utter until the vegetable begin to soften, about 4 minutes.

3.     Sprinkle the flour into the pan and continue to stir for 2 minutes to toast the flour.

4.     Add salt and pepper to taste

5.     Gradually whisk in the stock, then the milk and the beer.

6.     Bring to a boil.

7.     Reduce the heat and simmer the soup until potatoes are tender and soup is thicker, about 20 to 30 minutes.

8.     Remove the pan from the heat and puree soup with an immersion blender until smooth.

9.     Return soup to low heat.

10. Add cheese, a handful at a time, stirring until melted and smooth after each addition.

11. Season with salt and pepper.