Canadian Cheese soup

Soup season is upon us! Soup is among my favorite classes of food.  Scott likes cheese soup, and was dreaming about how they are serving cheese soup at the Cannon Center tomorrow, so I looked up a recipe, and we made some. The recipe called for Canadian bacon, which we didn't technically have, but since it's basically ham, we did have that.

I made homemade mozzarella cheese last night and we were looking at things to make with the leftover whey. I made honey whole wheat bread (also pictured below), and we used whey instead of water to make our broth for this soup. We didn't even think that there could be potential problems with the chemistry of the dish (e.g., if there was still rennet and acid in the whey, it might curdle the soup, just like it curdled the cheese), but it seemed to have worked out. Served it with steamed broccoli and homemade honey whole wheat bread.

From: 10/2/16

Update 10/11/17:
Somehow the recipe didn't make this post, so here's  one we've tried since. We subbed regular bacon this time:

Canadian Cheese Soup

3 cups chicken broth
4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 celery ribs, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
2 small onions, diced
6 ounces Canadian bacon, trimmed and diced
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1/8 teaspoon black pepper and/or 1 Serrano pepper finely diced
- Maybe some extra flavor with a splash of Worcestershire sauce and/or cider vinegar

Mix vegetables and broth together in a soup pot and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Melt butter in a sauce pan then add flour. Cook for a few minutes for a nice golden roux. Whisk milk into roux and keep stirring while bringing to a boil for a couple minutes

Mash broth boiled veggies with a potato masher; you still want some chunks when you're done. Add ham/bacon and leave on low heat. Slowly whisk in milky roux. Remove from heat, add cheese and stir until melted.