Loaded Potato Soup

My husband and I wanted to visit some friends of ours who recently had a baby. I know meeting up with friends that have a family is harder than it is for just the two of us... and add a baby into the mix and it becomes even harder still. So I thought we could save them some trouble and bring dinner and hang out at their house! I wanted to try this potato soup recipe I found, and thought it would be perfect for these cold winter days we have been having recently. I was right! The soup was delicious and everyone enjoyed it!

Modified from mamalovesfood.com

Ingredients:
- 5lbs Russet Potatoes, washed but NOT peeled. Diced into 1/2 inch(ish) cubes
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 10 cloves of garlic (you can use whole, crushed, or minced)
- 8 cups chicken stock
- 8 oz cream cheese (I used 8oz lowfat)
- 1 TBS seasoned salt or all-purpose seasoning
(I didn't have either seasoned salt or all-purpose seasoning, so I made my own mixture of: marjoram + paprika + dried parsley + chili + cumin + salt, all to taste but about a table spoon of each spice and a good amount of salt)

Garnishes:
- Crumbled bacon
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Clive

Directions:
- Add potatoes, onion, garlic, seasoning and chicken stock to slow cooker.
- Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 10 hours.
- Remove and puree the garlic cloves (if you used whole cloves) and cream cheese along with 1/2 to 1/3rd of the soup, and then reintroduce to the remainder in the crock pot.
- Add any additional seasonings to taste. Stir every 10-15 minutes until soup is well blended.
- Top with your choice of garnishes & serve!

Yields about 10-12 servings.



Cooking in the Crockpot and almost ready to eat soon! (made our home smell delicious all night!)

I wasn't able to take a picture of out soup in their bowls, we all ate them so fast! But here is a picture (with some left over toppings) of the soup in it's "left overs container" :) There wasn't really that much left after 4 adults and a child got through with it! YUMMM!