While my parents are here on their two-week vacation every October there is no shortage of desserts around the house.

Autumn and my mom make sure there’s always something tasty around. So far there has been apple and pumpkin pies, apple crisp, apple cake and a sweet potato loaf cake made with pumpkin.

And mom was thinking about making more of the loaf cake to use up the rest of the pumpkin she cooked up the other day. I also found a zucchini cookie recipe on the table, but since we didn’t have much luck with our zucchini plants this summer, I figure she might try substituting pumpkin into the cookies.

Either way, I’m set for a while.

And this is just the sweets.

The dinners have been just as good. Autumn made her chicken enchiladas when my brother came up for a few days and they both made chili over the weekend. Mom made her chicken chili and Autumn made a spicy buffalo chili. One night mom made up beef ribs and Autumn followed that with a nice slow-cooked buffalo roast with potatoes, carrots from the garden and celery.

There were so many carrots left over from the roast that Autumn made up a batch of carrot-apple juice.

So it was quite a decision for a recipe this week. But, in the spirit of the Empty Bowls event held on Saturday, mom decided to give me one of her favorite soup recipes: Loaded potato soup.

The original version here came from allrecipes.com, but when you start reading through it, you can see all the possibilities for additions. Bacon came to mind immediately for me.

Loaded potato soup

8 potatoes, peeled, cubed

1⁄2 cup butter

1⁄2 cup all-purpose flour

8 cups milk

1⁄4 cup chopped onion

1 (8 ounce) container sour cream

1⁄2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Place cubed potatoes into a glass dish, and cook in the microwave oven for 7 to 10 minutes, or until soft.

While the potatoes are cooking, melt the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Whisk in flour until smooth, then gradually stir in the milk. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, or until slightly thickened.

Stir in the potatoes and onion and cook for 5 more minutes. Stir in the sour cream and cheddar cheese until melted and well blended. Season with salt and pepper.