Monday, November 5, 2012

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Nearly two years ago while Marty was recovering from his transplant at Stanford, we discovered this soup. He couldn't really eat anything and soup was the best option for him. We found them at Safeway and would go to several stores to buy them out.

When we finally moved back home some three hundred miles away, we found our local grocery chain didn't carry the soup. So I set out to re-create the soup at home and make a recipe from scratch. I started with my Grandma's cheese potato soup as a base at first. That didn't work out as well as I thought so I went back to the drawing board. After one full winter of experimenting, I finally have the perfect recipe.

Shopping/Ingredient List:
Baking Potatoes
Green Onion
Bacon
Heavy Cream
Milk
White Onion
Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Kosher salt
Pepper

Recipe:
6-8 medium potatoes peeled
1 white onion diced
1/2 lb of bacon for bacon crumbles
3 cups heavy cream
3 cups milk
16 oz sharp cheddar cheese grated
2 green onions sliced
1 T kosher salt ( to taste, you might like more)
1/2 T pepper ( to taste, you might like more)

Instructions

Cut Potatoes into half and quarter into bite size pieces put into a large stockpot filled with salted water add diced onion and boil until you can stick a fork through the potatoes. Use a potato masher to mash some of the pieces. Do not mash all the pieces of potato, there are supposed to be bite sized pieces in the soup.

cook bacon for crumbles. I use my George Foreman to cook mine crispy. Baking it in the oven also is a good way to crisp it.

Add heavy cream, milk, salt, pepper and cheese over a medium heat stirring constantly to prevent scorching.  Stir until warm, cheese is melted and soup is a thicker consistency (15-20 minutes).  Add bacon crumbles and green onion, cooking for another 10 minutes to let them soften. Take soup off heat and serve.

This is a easy recipe and you can add anything to it that you love in a potato. We've never added anything else but you could. My family begs for this soup as soon as the weather turns cold. We only eat it once a month since it is very rich in nature and definitely not fat free. If you make this be sure to leave me a comment and let me know if you love it.



I love to serve this with the Easy Peasy Bread recipe on Pinterest.