Clam Chowda Mug O Soup

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
4 slices thick cut bacon, chopped
4 tablespoons butter
2 medium onions, chopped
4 ribs celery with greens, chopped
8 sprigs fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
4 teaspoons hot sauce, eyeball it
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 pints half-and-half
4 cups chicken stock, from soup aisle
2 14 ½ oz. cans of peeled, cooked potatoes, chopped into bite size pieces
4 cans whole baby clams and their juice

Directions:

In a medium pot over medium high, brown bacon pieces.  Add butter.  When butter is melted, add onions, celery and thyme sprigs. Season with salt, pepper and hot sauce and cook 5 minutes. Add flour and cook a minute more.

Add half-and-half and stock and bring to a bubble, then stir in potatoes and clams. Bring soup back to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes, until soup has thickened to coat the back of a spoon.

Remove the thyme sprigs from the soup. The thyme leaves will have fallen off into the soup. Stir and adjust seasonings in your soup. Pour soup into mugs.