This last week I had a hankering for a good old fashioned BLT and growing up my Mama always served BLTs with homemade potato soup.  So I took the traditional recipe my Mama always used and added a little flare to suit my taste buds.

The BLT is a no brainer.  I used Dave’s Killer Bread (which is the Lucero family’s favorite bread).  I always get the 21 whole grains & seeds thin-sliced because let’s get real…my toosh could use less carbs. Toast up that delicious bread, slather on some mayo (I use Best Foods with Olive Oil), top with organic tomatoes, butter lettuce and Wellshire Farms Bacon (I use their sugar free paleo dry rubbed bacon…so delicious).  You got yourself a BLT. Boom.

The potato soup took a little bit more prep then I imagined, but definitely worth every minute.  Now please learn from my brainless purchase and buy full size potatoes!  I bought baby and fingerling potatoes for some odd reason.  And then promptly had to spend an irritating amount of time peeling tiny potatoes.  Just look at my peelings!

Never use TINY potatoes for a recipe that requires you to peel them!

I prepped all of my ingredients before the cooking phase which didn’t take too much time (minus the potato peeling).  I then promptly tried to get all cute and fancy and take pictures of my ingredients to show you all.  In my defense this is my first recipe post and I was super excited.  However, I’m still learning and it ended up being a fancy picture fail because I had soon many ingredients!

My failed attempt of being fancy!

After my photo session all the other steps were a wiz.  If you like your soup really creamy you can use a blender at the end of step 3 before adding in remaining ingredients.  You may also choose to omit the peppers if you don’t want a spicy kick to your soup (I served up a bowl for my toddler before adding in the peppers).  Before I knew it I was serving up hot bowls of creamy delicious baked potato soup.   The soup was a total success with the fam-bam, my toddler even loved it!

Happy belly!

Nom nom nom!  Yet after my belly was happy and full I still had to face reality and tackle the aftermath of my kitchen.  OMG.  Two sinks full of dishes.  Ugh.

Happy bellies cause Mama hours of work.

But at the end of the day having happy kids and a satisfied man is well worth it.

Creamy Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 package bacon (120z)
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 2 lbs potatoes (Peeled & Cubed)
• 2/3 cup butter
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper (freshly ground)
• 1 cup diced cooked ham
• 80z sour cream
• 2 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 3/4 cup sliced green onions
• 2 peppers thinly sliced

Instructions:

1. Cook bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crisp. Bloat up grease on paper towels.  Crumble bacon and set aside.  Use 1 1/2 Tbls of grease drippings to cook onions over medium heat until tender.
2. In large pot over medium high heat combine onion, broth and potatoes. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium and cook about 10 minutes until potatoes are tender.  At this point mash the potatoes with a masher.
3. Melt butter in a skillet over low heat. Stir in flour with a whisk until combined. Cook and continuously stir 1 minute. Gradually whisk in 2 cups of milk.
4. Once your potato mixture is complete then add in your milk mixture along with the remaining 2 cups of milk, salt and pepper. Continue to cook and whisk over medium heat until the mixture begins to thicken.
5. Stir in ham, half of the crumbled bacon, sour cream, 2 cups of the shredded cheese, peppers and 1/2 cup of green onions. Cook until thoroughly heated and combined.
6. Serve up bowls of delicious soup and top with remaining bacon crumbles, cheese, sliced peppers (if desired) and green onions.

Until next time…

Huggles & A Trio of Kisses,

Jaime