Loaded Baked Potato Soup

So this has to be my favorite potato soup ever.  It is so good.
 But of course I love cooking things in a crockpot! :)

Ingredients
5 lb bag of Potatoes
Chicken Broth (32 oz)
Water
Cream Cheese (1 stick of cream cheese)
Green Onions, chopped
Cheese
Bacon (or in the world of people watching salt and calories- turkey bacon)
Pepper


So the first task is to wash and cut up all of the potatoes.  I leave the skins on the potatoes.  But you can always peel them off if you want.  Just toss them in the crockpot in the morning.  This recipe takes 6-8 hours to make.  I am sure it could go faster, but I like to have my crockpots go all day.

 I poured in one thing of chicken stock (32 oz).  This is the best chicken stock I can find.  And if you notice, it is unsalted and has a healthy heart on the front. :)  I sometimes add a bit of water too.  The liquid should reach the top of the pot.  I also add a generous helping of pepper (no salt, it is not needed but you could always add it).

 I then cook the bacon.  Because this is not just potato soup, but Loaded Baked Potato Soup.  We of course got Turkey Bacon (I like real bacon best on this soup, but this was a healthier alternative).

 I cook bacon in the oven.  I will never cook it again in a pan.  It is too easy.  Turn your oven to 425 and bake on aluminum foil (for easy cleanup) for 15- 30 minutes (depending on if you have real bacon or fake bacon).  Some bacon actually had directions on how to cook it in the oven on the packaging. After the bacon has cooled, break it into small chunks.

 This is what your soup will look like after 6-7 hours.  This is the point that you need to get out a blender to make the soup smooth.

 I put a few scoopfuls in and blend until smooth.  Once smooth empty it back into the pot.

 It will almost look like mashed potatoes.  You should continue blending all of the potatoes until the entire pot has no lumps (unless you wants potato chunks in your soup). Once the whole pot is smooth, add a stick of low fat cream cheese.  This will melt in the hot soup.  Mix the soup until the cream cheese is blended throughout. 

 This is what the soup will look like in the end.  Add some cheese, bacon, and green onions to the top of your soup to make it tasty and colorful!