Recipe- Baked Potato Soup

Since yesterday was a little bit of a dreary day (and even worse & colder today)- I made Baked Potato Soup last night for dinner... Mmm. I forget how good & easy it is!

Now, if you were to ask my Dad for his recipe, it would (or seems like) it takes 3 or so hours to make it.... But his recipe is delicious!!!

However, I wanted an easier recipe, and definitely found one! It took me about 1 hour from start to finish to make this. Not the healthiest thing in the world, but is any Baked Potato Soup really healthy?

Neelley's Baked Potato Soup
1 pkg Bacon- I go ahead & fry up the entire pkg to make BLT's with the soup & extra for toppings
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
7 Tbsp of All-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
2 cans Chicken Broth
4 large Baking Potatoes, peeled & cubed
2/3 cup Sour Cream
1/3 cup Milk (plus a little extra)
1 tsp Hot Pepper Sauce
Shredded Cheese


-Start by boiling water (I flavor mine with Chicken boullion cubes- about 3 to a big pot)-. Add your cubed potatoes to boiling water. Let boil for about 15 minutes- or until tender. Once your potatoes are done, drain water & let cool for a couple of minutes. Take a potato masher & mash the potatoes. They don't have to be perfectly smooth. Just break them up to where they aren't big chunks.

-While your potatoes are boiling, Fry bacon in skillet (Use a big skillet with sides to it, since you will be adding about 4 cups of Chicken broth to this later). (I always usually cook my bacon in the mircrowave, but it's important to fry in skillet for this recipe).

-After frying, pour out bacon grease, except keep about 1-2 Tbsp of Bacon grease in the bottom of your pan. Add onion & garlic to grease & cook until onion is translucent on Med-Low heat. Stir in flour, salt, pepper & basil. It will form a ball like dough.

-SLOWLY pour in chicken broth. As you pour it in, use a whisk (it's easier to incorporate the ingredients this way)- Make sure that all is mixed before you add more- Let boil for about 2 minutes - (Enough time to get your sour cream & milk out of the fridge & measured out, but make sure you stop & stir while doing this too)-
Turn heat down to LOW.- Add sour cream & milk. Stir to mix well. Add in your mashed potatoes. Stir to incorporate all!

ENJOY!

*NOTES:
- At some point during this process, you might want to transfer your items to a big pot. I have a large skillet with about 4" sides, so it was perfect for this recipe. However, it might be a better idea to add your sauce/soup to your mashed potatoes in your pot that you boiled them in.

- If you don't want to use Bacon grease, you can substitute for Margarine or butter.

-This recipe makes just enough for 4 full bowl servings.

-I don't know why part of this recipe shows up in blue & underlined. I'm not as blog savvy as some might think & I don't know how to undo that and such.... So, don't think that that part of the recipe is more important that the rest- It is, but it isn't. :)