baked potato soup

so recently went on vacation. enjoyable. i had a lovely time. my aunt was there for a bit and she was cooking. one of the first things discussed once I had established that I had a safe trip, driving through philly wasn't bad, how many times I'd stopped (a topic of discussion much belabored by family...I can drive for hours only stopping for gas and they all worry that I'm going to get a DVT. somehow, I think i'll be okay.), the conversation turned towards food. my mom and aunt are great cooks and in the last few months have spent many conversations discussing my cooking alternatives.

either way, my aunt was ready to cook this baked potato soup for my cousin and wanted to see if i could eat it. and i can. the vegetarian says no bacon, but i can indeed eat pork. i would say substititue with soy bacon or bacon crumbles or whatever if you can't do the bacon, but i used some microwavable bacon my mom had bought me in another attempt to get me to eat meat. i have to wonder if actually frying up some bacon would impart the soup with more flavor, but i'm not going to go buy some bacon to try it out so somebody can let me know.

whether or not you put bacon in this soup or not, it's lovely. don't stint and buy margarine instead of butter, or skim milk instead of whole milk. go all out. with the weather starting to turn around here, it'll be a nice recipe to have for the winter.

I will say that on my recipe it says prep is 15 minutes which is totally wrong. first off, you have to "bake, cool, peel, and cube" the potatoes. WHICH TAKES MORE THAN 15 MINUTES. i did an hour at 450 and they came out nicely. and then they cooled. and i didn't spend a lot of time peeling and cubing, i just basically sliced them in quarters and squeezed the potatoes out of the jackets and voila. 

I was also taught early in life about making a white sauce, which is essentially what the early steps of the soup are, so I took it slow and thus is definitely took me longer than 15 minutes. also, i really did add the milk in slow steps. but i enjoyed it. i listen to audiobooks while i cook, so it didn't seem to take very long though i know it did.

·         2/3 cup butter

·         2/3 cup flour

·         7 cups milk

·         4 large baking potatoes, baked, cooled, peeled and cubed, about 4 cups

·         4 green onions, thinly sliced

·         10 to 12 strips bacon, cooked, drained, and crumbled

·         1 1/4 cups shredded mild cheddar cheese

·         1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream

·         3/4 teaspoon salt

·         1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preparation:

In a large Dutch oven or stockpot over low heat, melt butter. Stir in flour; stir until smooth and bubbly. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly, until sauce has thickened. Add potatoes and onions. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until soup begins to bubble. Reduce heat; simmer gently for 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients; stir until cheese is melted. Serve baked potato soup immediately. 
This baked potato soup recipe serves 6 to 8.

(I would say more than 6-8, but it's very filling so I probably eat it sparingly...either way, delicious!)