Loaded baked potato soup

Tonight I made loaded baked potato soup that I got out of my Cook's Country cook book. I have been loving my Cook's Country cook books. I have five of the books, they come out with a new one every year, and they are my go to cook books. I love having actual cook books that I can look through and find recipes. If I go online and try to find a recipe for something, there are SO many websites with recipes, I just get lost and it takes me longer to find a recipe because I get sidetracked (hmmmm... maybe someone put something interesting on Facebook in the past 5 seconds!). I also love Cook's Country because everything that I have made was really good! They are kind of pricey, but I don't buy them the year they came out. I want and they discount them 6 months or so after they first come out.

So tonight I made loaded baked potato soup and it was awesome! It was very rich and called for a lot of cheese (I loooove cheese, especially extra sharp cheddar cheese!), but it is not something that I will make all the time. I used vegetables from my Bountiful Baskets from last week. I made a few changes to the recipe and I will list my changes at the end.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup (from Cook's Country 2006 book)

8 oz. bacon, chopped
*3 pounds russet potatoes, scrubbed
*1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
*1 sprig fresh thyme
4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, plus additional for garnish
1 cup sour cream, plus add. for garnish
Pepper
*3 scallions, sliced thin
(items with * are things that were from Bountiful Baskets <3)

1. Cook bacon in dutch oven over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. While bacon is cooking, use  vegetable peeler to remove wide strips of potato pell, reserve peels. Cut peeled potatoes into 3/4 inch pieces. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to plate lined with paper towels. Add reserved potato skins to bacon fat in pot and cook until crisp, about 8 minutes. Use slotted spoon, transfer potato skins to plate with bacon.
2. Add onion to fat remaining in pot and cook over medium heat until golden, about 6 minutes. Stir in garlic and flour and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in broth and cream, stir in thyme and potatoes, and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover pot, and cook until potatoes are tender, about 7 minutes.
3. Discard thyme and transfer 2 cups of cooked potatoes to bowl. Puree remaining soup in batches in blender until smooth. Return to pot and warm over medium heat. Off heat, stir in cheese until melted, then whisk in sour cream. Return reserved potatoes to pot and season soup with pepper. Ladle soup into bowls, garnishing with bacon, fried potato skins, scallions, cheese and sour cream.

Kelly's changes:
- I didn't use russet potatoes, I just used what I had.
- I didn't have 4 cups of chicken broth, so I just used 3 cups and 1 cup of water
- I didn't have fresh thyme but I did have fresh oregano, so I used that.
- I used low fat sour cream
- When I added pepper, I also put some splashed of Cholula (hot sauce). This is my moms secret ingredient to most of her recipes. It gives whatever your making a little kick and adds some major flavor!
- Next time I won't worry about the potato skins. We didn't like them added to the soup.

Just a few of the ingredients - the yellow things on the cutting board are potatoes 

The not so yummy potato skins frying. They ended up in the trash afterwards.

Moms cooking! Where is Deegan? Playing in the living room. He was being a good boy!

But he got hungry and was ready to for some dinner, so he hung out with me in the kitchen.

Almost done! Potatoes are cooking.

Ready to eat! It was so yummy! Better then Marie Callendar's potato cheese soup!

For dessert I made some chocolate covered apples and oranges, of course from Bountiful Baskets