Soup - Baked Potato Soup

It's National Soup Month! Have a recipe to share? Add it to the comments! I love winter and winter soups are so tummy warming! Practice making some great breads to go with your soups and you'll be the hit of the neighborhood!

Today's soup has many variations ... here's just one version. Lots of folks make this in a crock pot.

Start out by baking 2 large potatoes. Peel and cube them to have about 2 cups potatoes.
3 (or more) strips bacon diced and sauteed until crisp. Drain bacon and reserve 1 T of the drippings.
1 small onion and 1 clove garlic, chopped. Saute in the same pan with remaining drippings until translucent and tender.
3 T flour, 1 t salt, 1 t dried basil, 1/2 t pepper added to cooked onion and garlic.
Add 3 c chicken or vegetable broth and boil for 2 minutes
Add potatoes.
Stir in 1 cup half and half or table cream.
Grate 1 cup cheddar cheese and add to soup.
Heat through but do not bring to another boil.
Garnish with additional 1/2 cup grated cheddar and some fresh parsley.

Let's defat this a little bit!!

1. Use turkey bacon.
2. Saute onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil instead of drippings.
3. Use low sodium chicken or vegetable broth.
4. Use fat free half and half or fat free canned evaporated milk instead of cream.
5. Reduced fat cheddar cheese will work really well here!
Enjoy!