Broccoli, Ham, Potato Soup

I love soup. I didn't grow up eating soup, our main soup was clam chowder and ramen noodles. Now that I have my own kitchen I'm starting to learn how to make it and what's out there. I first made this for my daughters first birthday party and since then I've improved the recipe.

Ingredients

3 medium peeled and diced potatoes
3/4 cup peeled and diced carrots
1/3 cup diced celery or 1/4 teaspoons celery seed
1/2 cup broccoli
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup diced cooked ham
3 1/4 cups water
3 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste
5 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons corn starch
5 tablespoons potato flakes
3 cups milk


Directions

Combine the potatoes, celery, broccoli, onion, ham and water in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the chicken bouillon, salt and pepper.
In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in corn starch with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Slowly stir in potato flakes. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.
Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through. Serve immediately.

Tips:
1. The first time I made the soup I didn't cut the potatoes or ham small enough. This time I made them smaller and the soup turned out better.
2. I didn't add the broccoli the first time I made it. It was originally ham, potato soup but I added the broccoli for some extra vegetables. I'm always up for sneaking more vegetables in. I didn't have fresh broccoli so I added frozen broccoli in and then just cut it up to smaller sizes.
3. The first time I made it I had celery which was great. The second time I made it, no celery. Which wasn't a disappointment for my husband since he's not a fan of celery. Instead I added celery seed which gave it a little more depth. The choice is yours.
4. We try to cut out salt wherever we can and I left the salt out of this recipe with no problem. The chicken bouillon has enough to sustain the soup. My suggestion, add natural sea salt if you need to. Taste it to see what you like.
Adapted from Delicious Ham and Potato Soup on allreicpes.com