So, it’s almost Christmas here. That means people are out. They are out in droves, doing things, like being in my way. They are shopping, eating, drinking, being merry, all those things. And, as my dear hubby likes to point out, my inner Scroogette comes out in a big way this time of year. Since we could not go hide at the beach for awhile, we, as in I, decided to hibernate until after Christmas. And any good hibernation starts with a good soup. This felt like a great one to start with this year.

Beer Cheese Soup

3 slices bacon chopped

2 large potatoes

2 cups vegetable broth

2 large cloves garlic

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp coconut oil

1 ½ cups of heavy whipping cream

1 12 oz bottle of beer – I used Blue Moon

1 cup chopped Portabello mushrooms

Melt coconut oil over medium heat in a medium sized soup pot. Place bacon in pot and cook until brown. Leave the bacon in or remove for garnish later. Saute the garlic in pot. Pour in a little of the vegetable broth and deglaze the pot (Google it). Then put in the rest of the broth and about 1/3 of the beer. Put in potatoes and cook until soft, around 30 minutes. When the potatoes are soft, use a potato masher to mash them in the pot.* Pour in another 1/3 of the beer, stir until blended. Remove from heat for a minute. Then put the cream in the pot, constantly stirring.** Then put in the Worcestershire sauce. Then put the cheese in. You may want to do this a little bit at a time. Also, you’ll want to continually stir, so it doesn’t stick to the bottom. Pour in the rest of the beer and the mushrooms. And now you have Beer Cheese Soup. I recommend serving this with a lovely dark beer and lots of garlic bread. I also put some Texas Pete Hot sauce on mine. If you want the whole pot to be spicy, you could add some jalapenos. That’d be delicious!

Beer Cheese Soup

*You can do this in a blender, if you want a really smooth soup. But that seemed like a great deal of trouble to me. So, I just mashed them in the pot.

**You can temper the cream by putting a little of the soup from the pot into the cup before pouring in, as well. The idea is to not introduce the cream to extreme heat too quickly or it will curdle.