This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Carton Smart for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Making eco friendly changes in your life should be easy.  When I heard about Carton Smart, I knew it was something I wanted to know more about.  After all, it meant making a big change with very little effort.  After all, I was going to be using these products anyways, why not get it with better packaging.

When our Pacific Foods kit arrived, we were in the middle of a cold snap…as in -22.  Perfect temperature for things like homemade potato soup!  Usually I use those little chicken stock cubes and I hate it.  It takes me forever to dissolve them and I get too impatient.  Now, I could just open the carton of Pacific Foods chicken stock, use what I need and put it in the refrigerator until I’m ready to use it up.  Is your mouth just salivating at the sound of this soup?  It should be, it’s so yummy!

Homemade Chunky Potato and Bacon Soup

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lbs red “B” potatoes, cubed

1 lb bacon

4 stalks celery, sliced

1 jumbo onion

4 cups water

4 cups milk

2 tablespoons Pacific Foods Organic Chicken Simply Stock

3/4 stick of butter

3/4 cup of wheat flour

Shredded cheddar

Seasonings of choice

This recipe serves a ton!  It more than fills my crock pot.  Generally, I half the recipe and it still leaves a lot of leftovers.

Boil potatoes for 20 minutes or until soft.

In a large pan, combine bacon, celery and onion.  Saute until celery is soft.  Drain and return to pan.  Add 4 cups water and 4 cups milk and cooked potatoes.  Add 2 tbsps chicken stock.  Simmer on low to slightly medium heat.  Do not let it boil.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  {I also add garlic salt, minced onion, oregano and italian seasoning}.

In a separate pan, melt butter.  Turn heat on medium and slowly mix in flour.  Slowly stir this into the soup to thicken it.

Serve topped with shredded cheddar if desired.

We also received the Pacific Foods Organic Pumpkin Puree and Pacific Foods Organic Jellied Cranberry Sauce.  Check back soon for homemade pumpkin bread and cranberry oatmeal walnut cookie recipes.

This time of year we do a lot of baking.  Cookies, breads, and everything else.  Have you ever thought about how many of your holiday baking products can be replaced with Become Carton Smart#CartonSmart packaging?  These replacement products use 1/3 of the packaging the canned ones do.  Better for the environment and no tinny taste!

How will you be #CartonSmart this holiday season?

For more ways to be #CartonSmart, follow along on Tweet @CartonSmartTwitter and Follow #CartonSmart on PinterestPinterest.