Baked Potato Soup

Oh, I love fall!  I love fall for lots of reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is that it is soup season!  I love love love soup and you can make soup out of almost anything on hand!  One of Joshua's and my favs is Baked Potato Soup.  It makes me happy that I can make it and it makes both of us happy because we can eat it!
Disclaimer - I'm sorry!  When I cook I usually don't measure anything, so I'm guessing a little on my measurements!  I hope your soup still turns out!

10 medium potatoes, peeled and cut up bite sized
1 large yellow onion, diced small
2 t minced garlic
1 can cream of chicken soup (I used the 98% fat free)
1 T salt
1 1/2 t garlic powder
1 t pepper
3/4 C cheddar cheese
1/3 C sour cream
4 or 5 strips turkey bacon (less fat!) cooked and cut into small pieces
Green onions, chopped

Fill up a stock pot about half way.  Roughly 10 Cups of water. Bring the water up to a boil.  While you are waiting for your water to boil, dice your onion and add that and the garlic to the water.  Peel and cube your potatoes into bite size pieces.  Add them to your water.  Let the potatoes and onion boil together until the potatoes are soft, but still keep their shape.  About 30 minutes.  

When the potatoes are soft pull out about 1 cup of water and 4 cups of potatoes.  Mash them together until there are no lumps.  We are thickening the soup with actual potato to help keep the flavor.  Put the mashed potatoes back into your soup and add in the can of soup.  This also helps to thicken.  (If your soup is still to thin after this, you can add in powdered potatoes or potato pearls.  Add slowly, dry potatoes thicken up fast!)

Add in your "baked potato ingredients."  When adding in the sour cream, keep the soup moving so that it doesn't curdle.  These are what I put in mine - but you can add whatever you'd like.  Taste your soup before you add the salt!  Remember that the bacon carries a lot of salt in it and you don't want to over season.  Salty soup is not yummy!  :)  Add in your spices and stir to incorporate.  When serving save some green onions as a garnish on top.  Chives also look lovely!  Enjoy!

Posted by: Em