Loaded Baked Potato Soup [Vegetarian option available]

I'm eating this soup I just made as I type. It's so, so good. Little bit of spice, salty and flavorful, and colorful--plus the perfect texture. Throughout the recipe I'll be listing vegetarian substitutions as well.

This recipe is not for the lactose intolerant. Take those magic pills you folks have before you eat it!

Ingredients:

1. two boxes of chicken broth, or vegetable broth. veggie broth will give it a different type of flavor but it will still be delicious.
2. 6 slices of bacon (or oil)
3. 6 potatoes, peeled and chopped up
4. 3 celery stalks
5. 3 large carrots
6. two shallots or half an onion
7. one clove of garlic
8. 1/2 cup heavy cream (or half and half. this is honestly optional)
9. 1 cup of milk
10. 2 tbsp flour
11. salt and pepper
12. crushed red pepper
13. thyme
14. oregano

How did this picture get in here?! Meet Flower. My friend Willow told me to name her after the skunk in bambi. 

Anyways. Ingredients! Not pictured: flour. pictured above: flower. Not pictured below: flour. 

Take out your bacon. Have you noticed that when I have raw meat I use a separate cutting board and knife? You probably didn't, but now you know. 

If you are doing veggie soup, skip this step and heat some olive oil in your soup pan instead. 

I cut it up roughly before I cooked it which was completely impossible so just cook it first then chop it. 

Heat up your soup pot. You could also probably do this in the crock pot. If you do that, heat it up to high. 

Toss the bacon in there. Let it cook and render it's fat. (that means wait until the bacon shrinks up)

While that cooks, get out your celery....

And cut it into thinner strips. 

Dice!

Cut your carrots into strips and dice them up too. And the shallots/onion. I didn't take a picture because I wanted to get cutting the shallots over with as quickly as possible because my eyes were on fire and I was crying all over everything. I hate. cutting. onions. 

 You should wash the veggies first but I never do and I'm still here. 

Fat = rendered. Take the bacon out but leave the grease in! That brown stuff is FLAVOR FLAVOR FLAVAAAA. 

If you are doing veggie soup, you should have heated oil in your soup pot now. 

Put your mirepoix in. (remember, mirepoix is a mixture of celery, carrot, and onion that you cook first to layer flavor)

Get your potatoes and peel them. 

I don't have a potato peeler so I decided to be incredibly wasteful and just chop the edges off the potatoes. 

Chop em up. 

Throw them in the pot. 

Add a good 3-4 tablespoons of salt. The potatoes will suck it all up. 

y peppar...

and mix! it should be smelling good by now. 

Grab the broth (chicken or vegetable, whatever). Remember to poke a hole in the top--it will pour faster. you know, physics. 

Pour in 2 boxes (about 8 cups). Bring it to a boil and let it cook for 10 mns or so. 

While that magic happens, combine a cup of milk and some flour and whisk it. 

Soup should be looking geewwwwddd. 

flour  + milk mixture = dump in the soup pot

stir. let it cook for another 10 mns or so--this will thicken it up. 

Now take an immersion blender and blend the soup til it's creamy and smooth (or however you like it). Make sure you take the pot off the heat while you do this. 

If you don't have an immersion blender, use a regular blender or food processor and blend it that way. 

yummmmmmmm. Its okay that its orange--thats the carrots. You don't need to use carrots but I am picky about my mirepoix. 

Dump some cream in there. 

LOOK. AT. THAT. 

Turn it down to low and add your favorite spices. 

I tossed the bacon back in there too but you can just use it to garnish the soup. 

I served mine with pepper jack cheese. You can also do chives, sour cream, etc. 

Time to carbo-load!