Soup for a winter night...

Soup is a very forgiving food:  you can go a little low or high in measurements, drop one ingredient and add another, and it still can come out tasting fine.  Some guidelines for a nice potato soup:  Saute 1/2 to 1 whole onion with garlic till all is transparent. Chop 3 - 6 medium sized potatoes ("medium" as opposed to huge 6" baking potatoes) and saute for a minute or so.  If you like beans (a can of black or white or red kidney) or want to add a low fat protein source, add them to the saute to give them a little flavor.  You can also add lots of other "firm" vegetables at this point:  carrots, celery, sweet potato etc. Cover all with water and simmer till soft, 20-30 minutes.  You can bouillon, wine, worchestershire sauce, and/or soy sauce till it's to your taste.  Tomato paste is good, various herbs are good (basil, oregano, thyme, marjoram).  When the potatoes et al are soft, you can add any leftover cooked vegetables (peas, corn, green beans, broccoli).  At this point the soup is "done" and ready to eat but it's nice to add cheese.  Plain old American melts easily and is the cheapest; parmesan adds a nice flavor.  If you've got some hard stuff that needs to be tossed out, you can chop that up and add it.  And finally, if you don't have a nice bread, croutons or crackers work almost as well to round it out into something hot and good that you can call "Dinner".