Loaded Baked Potato Soup

It's hard being a food blogger.

It does not come naturally to me, I'll tell you that. Maybe someday having a camera in my hand will be second nature, but I'm not there yet. Here's the scoop on this dish-

I'd fully planned on featuring this soup on my blog. Most of the time, I'm packaging up my food and waiting for morning light to photograph my food. I'm a small-time blogger, I can't really justify buying expensive lighting equipment at this time in my life. This means I photograph all my food at exactly 1 pm. I always try to be home at 1 pm. It's a little irritating, but it works for now. So what did I do with the leftovers of this soup after the hubby and I had feasted on it? I packaged it all up to freeze. All the packaging had to be undone so I could remove a bowl. If you vacuum-pack soup, you know how messy this can get. Grr.

Cut to next day. There I am. The soup had been heated up. Styled to look oh-so pretty. I'm snapping away, only 12 pictures in. Then... the camera battery died. Dun dun DUN.  I stood there and stared at my soup. I knew I hadn't taken enough pictures. Should I charge the battery, leave the soup, and come back? The camera battery would take a couple of hours to charge, the soup would look very tired after a couple of hours. Plus, it was my lunch. And it looked awfully yummy.  Man, this soup just didn't want to be featured on the blog. In the end, of course, I ate the soup. I was satisfied with the photographs I took, and my stomach was happily full of soup. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Now it's Monday. Monday's are usually my big day. I grocery shop, do the laundry, vacuum and dust the house, and prepare the hubby's lunches for the week. This gives me plenty of time to go to the gym, play with the pups, bake, and take photographs the rest of the week. Welp, I just woke up to about 5 inches of snow. Not sure I'm going to make it out today. All I can say is if I don't make it out, expect to see pictures of a snow family in my yard :)

Ingredients:

5 lbs baking potatoes

7 slices bacon, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 tbsp minced garlic

2 tsp kosher salt

1 bay leaf

1 quart 1% milk

2 cups chicken broth

1 tsp pepper

garnish: shredded cheddar cheese and thinly sliced green onions

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400º. Scrub all potatoes and pierce with a fork. Place potatoes on a cookie sheet and bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Remove from oven, place in a large bowl, and partially mash potatoes with a potato masher (skins and all).

2. In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, render bacon until browned and crisp. Remove bacon from pan with a slotted spoon, drain on a paper towel. Set crumbled bacon aside.

3. Add onion to bacon drippings. Sauté 5 minutes, or until tender. Add garlic, salt, and bay leaf to pan. Sauté for 30 seconds. Add milk, broth, potatoes, and pepper to pan. Lightly simmer soup for 10 minutes, stirring often. Do not allow soup to come to a rapid boil.

4. Ladle soup into bowls and top with crumbled bacon, cheese, and sliced onions. Serve immediately.

*This recipe makes about 18 servings. If you don't want the leftovers (say, to freeze for later), cut the recipe in half or more.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light

Linked up to: Weekend Potluck