• 2 tablespoons butter or olive oil, but butter is best
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped small or pressed if you have a press. Garlic presses are fun!
• 3 medium-sized potatoes diced
• 1.5 cups chicken stock*
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1.5 cups milk*
• 1.5 cups cheddar grated. use as much as you like. I like about twice this much. Okay, three times.
• salt, black pepper, paprika, cayenne or whatever spices you like. It's your soup!

Melt butter in large pot. Add onions & garlic. Cook till tender but not screaming tender. Not quite brown.
Add potatoes, chicken stock*, thyme and bring to a boil. Make sure you don't watch.
Reduce heat & cover. Cook for 25 minutes or so, until the potatoes are cooked.
Remove half the soup and puree it. Reunite the puree with the rest of the soup. Yay! Together again!
Add the milk*.
Bring just to a boil, stirring and stirring.
Add cheese!!
Add spices!!
Add more cheese!!
Eat it!!

* So, if you have been less good or feel not so bad or if you don't have any milk, you can also substitute more chicken stock for the milk. You can also top up the chicken stock with white wine for the first, boiling-potatoes stage. White wine cooks the potatoes and thyme with good, good flavour. Oh, it will still be a creamy soup because of the pureed potatoes, but will be more brothy creamy and less cream-of-anything creamy.

AND you can add broccoli!

Grab a bunch, steam it and then puree the fuzzy tree bits. Add the green puree to the second stage of the soup when you add the other puree.
For the stalks, peel off the tough bits & discard, chop the good, tender bits, pretend they're potatoes and add them to the stock and potatoes and thyme and wine.
After you follow all the other instructions, presto! You have broccoli cheese potato soup! This is not so decadent because it's less creamy. And broccoli is a good source of vitamins.

Garnish with a sprinkle of reggiano parmesan. And nice, crusty bread.