Baked Potato Soup

Amanda and I met at Chili's for lunch today. It was fun. I had Enchilada Soup, and Amanda had the Baked Potato Soup. It looked quite tasty, but I was too full for anymore soup. So I decided to make some for dinner. This is a recipe that I got from Kraftfoods.com. But after making it for the first time, awhile back, I decided to make some changes. So here it is:

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 cans chicken broth
2 cups half & half
2 cups steamed broccoli
3 medium baked potatoes, baked
1 cup of cooked and crumbled bacon*
1 cup grated cheese
extra grated cheese for garnish, optional
sour cream for garnish, optional

Directions:

Bake potatoes in 375 F oven for 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Allow to cool long enough so you can handle them. Remove and scoop out filling. Then cut into cubes.

In a large pot on the stove top, melt butter. Do this on medium-low heat. Add onions, salt, and pepper and sweat them for 10 minutes. Add broth and half & half and bring to a boil over medium heat. At this point you have two options: 1. Remove some liquid, and puree it in a blender with half the baked potatoes. OR 2. Add half the baked potatoes and use a hand-blender to puree the potatoes. (You can also puree some or all of the broccoli at this point.) Now add puree from blender (if that's the option you chose), broccoli, remaining potatoes, and bacon. Bring to a boil, and boil for a few minutes, stirring often. Add the cheese, and once melted, serve immediately. Garnish with extra cheese and sour cream if you want.

The original recipe called for celery and not broccoli. But my kids didn't like the celery. So I substituted broccoli, which they love, but it does kind of turn the soup green if you puree some of the broccoli.

I think this is enough for 4-5 people, if that's all you're having. All of my kids loved this soup. Brook had seconds, Jake had thirds. And it's quite filling.

*As with a lot of recipes, I used precooked and crumbled bacon. I buy it at Costco in a big bag and store it in my freezer. It doesn't freeze into a hard lump, so I can reach in and grab as much as I need right from the freezer. I love freshly cooked bacon, but when I'm cooking, this is just so much easier! See picture below: