Cheese Soup from the Ranch

For Lou… lets see how this works out …..

Ingredients 

• 6 medium potatoes, cut into large chunks (⅙ or ⅛ ) 
• 3 tomatoes diced med 
• 6 roasted green chiles, diced med (cleaned, mom doesnt take out seeds for heat)
• 1 large onion diced med
• 1.5 lbs fresh cheese 
• ¼ cup whole milk (or a touch less) 
• Garlic powder
• Salt
• Pepper 
• Broth/Stock, (2 tbsp dry or equivalent). Beef, chicken veg is fine. To taste, don’t forget the cheese is salty and flavorful.
• 4 oz tomato sauce
• 14 cups water 
• Neutral cooking oil

Process

1. Boil your water and add the stock
2. Heat up your oil in a very large skillet to fry potatoes. Add garlic powder, pepper and salt to taste, mom seemed to use a few big shakes of each. Perhaps about a teaspoon each.
3. Get a light sear on the potatoes, reduce heat and add all the chopped veggies 
4. Saute for another 5 minutes, put all the ingredients in the water over medium heat.
5. Fry up some of the tomato sauce to get rid of some of the water and acidity, then put in the mix.
6. Let the pot go for about 20 minutes, this is when the potatoes will soften, your call on doneness. 
7. Add the chopped up cheese, not too small, you don’t want it to disintegrate 
8. Add the milk. This is optional, but mom always does it 
9. Go for 8 minutes or so on a simmer so the cheese flavor melds in but not so long it comes apart. Eyeball it.