Loaded Baked Potato Soup

January 20

This is my first post about cooking! I made Loaded Baked Potato Soup, and it turned out pretty good. It was missing some flavor, though. Perhaps I'll try adding some spices next time. When I reheated it for lunch, I added some chicken broth, and that helped boost the flavor. Probably the combo of chicken flavor and salt. The recipe is super easy. I didn't take pictures for every step like The Pioneer Woman does, but I did take a before and after shot.

Here's the link to the blog I got the recipe from: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2010/02/12/baked-potato-soup/. You can see what ingredients she used, and I'll list what I used. She has some pretty tasty sounding recipes on her blog, so I'll be trying more of her recipes!

- 8 medium white potatoes. I baked them with the skin on at 350 for 40ish minutes? (They were taking too long, so I chopped them up after they cooked for about 30ish minutes and put them back in.)

- 3 tablespoons butter

- 2 tablespoons flour

- 1 cup heavy cream + a little less than 1/2 cup because I thought the potato to cream ratio was too high.

- 2 cups 2% milk + another 1/2 cup

- 1/2 cup chicken stock (I added this the day after when it wasn't as soupy. It really helped the flavor.)

- 1 cup sliced smoked cheddar cheese (I used smoked, but I bet you could use regular cheddar. Oh, and I don't have a grater, so I cut really small slices off the block of cheese.)

- About 1/3 of a medium onion, chopped. I sauteed it before I made the roux at the beginning.

- 6 slices bacon, microwaved. Then broiled to make it crispy. I don't usually care for microwaved bacon (because it's less greasy!!), but it was one less pan to wash.

Here are my edited directions from the above website:

Heat a large pot on medium heat. Once hot, add butter and onion. Saute onion until soft. Add flour and whisk into a light brown roux. Add heavy cream, potatoes and milk, continuously stirring until thickened. (Add more milk and cream if it seems like there are a ton of potatoes.) Stir in cheese, making sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom. Simmer for about 13 minutes. (I was impatient and hungry.) Depending on desired consistency, add chicken stock. Stir in 4 slices of crumbled bacon. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with 2 slices of bacon. (Unless you ate almost a whole piece while you were crumbling it. Then add 1 slice.)

I'm surprised there was actually bacon left to put on top of the soup. Mmm.

This is the soup the day after. The picture the night I made the soup was blurry. I was hungry!!