Baked Potato Soup

I must apologize for being such a loser. I have a ton of recipes that I really need to write about but haven't.

Good thing is Mr. B is out of town the rest of the week so tonight I'll have time. I can even upload a picture of my yummy soup.

I got this recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking. She has set out to make a meal in the crock pot every single day. She does main courses, sides, breads, desserts, and even drinks. She just came out with a cookbook.

Now generally Mr. B doesn't like a lot of stuff in the crock pot because the flavors all blend together and I have to admit this does happen a lot....but this soup....this soup oh I loved it!

Ingredients
Let me preface this by saying you're going to get a whole lot of soup here. We ate a total of 4 bowls and I froze the rest. This is easily a serving of 8 but I'd say more like 12. Next time I will probably cut it down.

5 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced in 1 to 2-inch chunks
1 teeny onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper
2 quarts chicken broth
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese
crumbled bacon, shredded cheddar cheese, and green onion or chives as garnish (optional)
And if you know me I added in some salt, pepper, and Slap Ya Mama...I eye balled it. Whatever you think would be good to your buds.

Now onto the action!

Use a 6 quart or larger slow cooker.
Peel and dice the potatoes, and put them into the stoneware.
Add onion and garlic.
Sprinkle in the seasonings, and pour in the broth.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4.
You can use a potato masher to mash the potatoes in the soup, or a hand-held immersible blender. (I used the blender and I just think it gave it that creamy texture I was looking for)

After smashing the potatoes, crumble in both packages of cream cheese, and put the lid back on.

(Now I didn't do this right. I actually added the cream cheese and let it cook the allotted time then did the immersion blender. It worked out fine. So either way is good.)

Cook on high for about 30 minutes, or until the cream cheese is completely dissolved.
Stir a few times during the 30 minutes.

That's it! Now top with your favorite toppings...and let me tell you...it does taste just like a baked potato and it's sooo yummy.

We ate this when it was 95 degree's outside. Yes Mr. B gave me some slack about it but even he enjoyed it!