Potato Soup with Cheese and Bacon

I love soup. I can eat it all year long. It was 110 degrees today in Vegas, and the kids still wanted potato soup. And why not? The air conditioning makes soup a great idea any day.

My potato soup is quick and easy, and it makes a tasty lunch at work the next day if you have any leftovers. Plus, did I mention it is topped with cheese and bacon? So good!

Ingredients

6-8 large potatoes

1 block cream cheese

32 oz chicken stock

1 1/2 c milk

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 c shredded cheese. I prefer Colby jack, but your choice.

1 pound of bacon, cooked and crumbled

Additional shredded cheese for topping

Wash the potatoes and cut into slices, skin on. Put the potatoes, garlic, salt and chicken stock into a pot and boil until soft. Do not drain. Remove from heat.

Add cream cheese and milk. Using your immersion blender*, blend well. Return to low heat, adding shredded cheese and stirring until blended throughout. Be sure to watch the heat and stir occasionally so your cheese doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan.

Cut bacon into small chunks and fry in a separate skillet. Drain and set aside. When soup is bubbling and cheese is blended in, serve with bacon and shredded cheese topping. Crackers optional.

Serves 6-8

* If you don't have an immersion blender, you can get the same smooth results with your regular blender. Add equal parts of the potato / stock mixture with cream cheese and milk (probably 3 separate batches), blend until smooth and return to the pan to simmer with the shredded cheese. It just saves steps to use the immersion blender. So easy!

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