If you have leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving, you will find this soup a perfect place to use them. This is Cheesy Potato soup, VAMPED UP with bacon, sour cream and cheese. So good my daughter said, "Wow, Mom, this soup is really good. No, I mean it. It is really good!"
Loaded Potato Soup
1 Large Onion
4 Stalks Celery
2 Large Carrots, diced into small pieces
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 quart Chicken Broth
1 C. Half and Half
3 C. Mashed Potatoes*
2 C. Chopped Ham
1 1/2 C. Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Garnish
1 lb. Bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 C. Sour Cream
1 C. Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Cut Bacon into small pieces and then cook in a large dutch oven until done, stirring to keep from burning.** Save 2 Tbsp. of oil and saute chopped onion, celery and carrots. When vegetables are almost done, add minced garlic. Let the rest of the oil cool and then dispose of in a plastic bag in the trash.
Pour 1 quart of chicken broth into sautted vegetables and cook until tender crisp. (I never buy chicken broth. I opt to use the much cheaper chicken bouillon mixed with 8 oz. of water for each cup of bouillon needed. I add the water to my dutch oven and throw in the chicken bouillon letting it dissolve as the vegetables cook.)
Add mashed potatoes and chopped ham to vegetable mixture and let simmer until ready to serve. Before serving, add half and half and cheese in enough time to bring everything up to temperature. Serve with a small spoonful of sour cream, topped with grated cheese and garnished with bacon bits. A wonderful winter's night soup served with homemade rolls or bake and serve rolls from your local grocer. My homemade roll recipe is coming in upcoming blogs.
Mashed Potatoes*
This is a fabulously fattening way to make mashed potatoes. Although your heart might stop beating when you read the ingredients. I promise you will never have leftovers with this recipe.
10 - 12 Large Potatoes, peeled and quartered
8 oz. Cream Cheese
1/2 - 1 C. Butter
1/2 C. Sour Cream
Cook Potatoes, covered in water, in a large dutch. Get the water boiling and then put the lid on and turn down the heat so the water is still boiling but not coming out of the pan. Cook for 20-30 minutes until potatoes are fork tender (A fork is able to be inserted with ease into each piece of potato tested.)
While potatoes are cooking, soften fats in microwave and then mix in large bowl with beaters. (I use my Bosch mixture and mix the cream cheese and butter until soft and then add the drained potatoes. Usually it fills the entire bowl with the amounts I have specified.) I always start with 8 oz. of cream cheese and 1/2 c. butter. Add potatoes and then decide if I need more fat or not. Usually, I don't.
If more fat is needed, I add sour cream until I get the consistency I want. If that doesn't do it, I add the extra butter. It all depends on what sizes my potatoes are and how many I boil. Sour cream tends to make the potatoes thinner and runnier. You'll have to experiment until you get the consistency you want. YUM, YUM is all I can say!
** My husband's Aunt Gail taught me to cut the pound of bacon before you cook it. Then you do not have to crumble your cooked bacon strips, it is all done for you. You will find you render much more grease when the bacon is cooked in small pieces rather than in strips, thus making your bacon less heart problematic because you have taken more of the fat off/out of it.