Exploring New Foods: Recipe III

I'd like to preface this recipe by saying that I think it has much potential to be a great recipe... if you read it properly.  After a long, busy day at work I came home so prepared to make a wonderful potato soup- one of my favorites. I was very excited to try this new recipe for it too.  Well, my mistake, I used 2c flour instead of 1/4c - well, actually 4c instead of 1/2c as I was doubling the recipe in anticipation of a wonderful lunch for tomorrow as well.
I thought it was a lot of flour, and then it got WAY too thick, but I tried to work with it and thought it would thin out once I added it to the undrained veggies. Boy was I wrong. I make a flour-stew.  I tried to recify it to an edible concoction by boiling more potatoes and making a mashed potato mixture as my grandmother use to for the base of her potato soup, but it still didn't work out too well.  My husband was a champ and ate it anyway- he said he's had worse things and it wasn't too bad. He was just being nice, because I thought it was horrid.

I thought I would share the recipe anyway, and I plan to make it in the future -- the proper way!

Cheddar Potato Chowder
Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 2 cups diced unpeeled red potatoes
• 1 cup diced carrot
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups 2% milk
• 2 cups shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese
• 1 cup cubed fully cooked lean ham

Directions:

• In a dutch oven, combine first 7 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 10-12 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
• Meanwhile, place flour in a large saucepan; gradually whisk in milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook and stir 2 minutes or until thickened.
• Remove from heat. Add cheese; stir until melted. Stir the ham and cheese sauce into undrained vegetables until combined.