Hearty Ham and Potato Soup — The Twelve-Year-Old Gets His Request Honored

Easter is in three weeks and the ward is in full preparation mode, a Primary Easter pageant that Lily has been cast in as a young disciple, and the Relief Society organizing Easter food baskets for families served by the bishop's storehouse. When Sister Williams called to ask if I would help with the baskets, I said yes before she finished the sentence. My father manages the bishop's storehouse. Food baskets for families in need is the language I was raised in: food as service, service as love, love as something you put in a basket and carry to someone who needs it more than you do right now.

The baskets need canned goods, dry goods, and a treat item. I am contributing twenty cans of soup and twelve boxes of pasta from the pantry inventory. Brandon picked up extra cans at Costco on Thursday without being asked. He does this, appears with supplies, quietly reinforces the systems I run. We have not discussed it. Some things are better understood than explained, and after fourteen years I have stopped needing everything to be said to know it is true.

Sunday prep: ham and potato soup, four bags, not on the workshop list but which Ethan specifically requested, and I have decided that the twelve-year-old who eats four servings of everything and keeps growing taller gets his requests honored. Potatoes, ham, chicken broth, cream cheese, cheddar, sour cream, chives. Cost for four family-size bags: nine dollars forty cents, two dollars thirty-five per meal. I wrote it down in the notebook that is half recipe development and half evidence I am still functioning.

Mason was in the kitchen during prep, building a command center from cardboard boxes in the corner. He aligns edges and measures by eye and decides where openings should go with a care that makes me stop and watch him sometimes. He is eight. He is already someone specific, and I am only now catching up to who that someone is.

Noah spilled half a cup of diced celery on the floor and looked at it with the philosophical calm of someone waiting to see what happens. I handed him the broom. He swept it into a pile. He also swept two dish towels and a flip-flop into the pile, but the celery was addressed and we moved on.

This is the soup Ethan asked for, and this is the soup Ethan got. Hearty ham and potato soup, thick with cheddar and cream cheese, the kind of meal that fills up a boy who eats four servings and keeps outgrowing his shoes. At two dollars and thirty-five cents a bag, it’s the recipe I reach for when I need something that stretches, freezes well, and reminds everyone at the table that being fed is its own kind of being loved.

Hearty Ham and Potato Soup

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch cubes
• 2 cups diced ham
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives, plus more for garnish
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1/2 cup diced yellow onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Sauté the vegetables. Melt butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and celery and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.
2. Build the base. Sprinkle flour over the vegetables and stir for 1 minute to coat. Slowly pour in chicken broth, stirring constantly to prevent lumps.
3. Cook the potatoes. Add diced potatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until potatoes are fork-tender, about 15 minutes.
4. Add the ham. Stir in diced ham and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until heated through.
5. Make it creamy. Reduce heat to low. Stir in cream cheese in small pieces until fully melted and incorporated. Add milk and stir until smooth.
6. Finish the soup. Stir in shredded cheddar, sour cream, and chives. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir gently until cheese is melted and soup is heated through. Do not boil after adding sour cream.
7. Serve or freeze. Ladle into bowls and top with extra chives and cheddar. To freeze, cool completely, transfer to gallon-size freezer bags, lay flat, and freeze for up to 3 months. Reheat over medium-low heat, stirring frequently.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 310 | Protein: 18g | Fat: 17g | Carbs: 22g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 890mg