Baked Potato Soup

Mothers of twins stick together.  We have to – we quickly become outnumbered.  David and I went from Mann-to-Mann coverage – heck, we were double teaming poor Travis – to a zone defense within a minute.  Playing defense, however, gets easier over time.  As a matter of fact, David took the 3 kids up the ski lift by himself last week.  Despite his warning of “wait until I tell you” Elizabeth hopped off the chairlift about 2 feet too early.  She got knocked down, lost a ski and the lift was stopped for minutes.  Remind me why I agreed to that solo parenting expedition?  You would think that after day 1 when David convinced me to avoid the crowds at the bottom and take the kids to the top of the mountain after a 2 year hiatus from skiing that I would have known better.  I ended up skiing down the mountain with a 6 year old between my legs.  I am not that good of a skier to begin with and am even worse when we make a wrong turn and head down a blue.

Thanks to fellow mom of twins, Stacey W., for this recipe and for reality checks on "those things that twins do".  Here's a link to the original recipe; I adapted it to fit our family's tastes.  

Ingredients:

Baked Potato Soup

1. 3 bacon strips, diced
2. 1 clove garlic, minced
3. 3 T all-purpose flour
4. 1 t salt
5. 1/2 t ground black pepper
6. 3 C chicken broth.  You can make homemade broth or my friend, Rachel S., convinced me that organic chicken broth from a box was ok too.
7. 2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed.  Scrub potatoes and pierce multiple times with a fork.  Either bake in the oven at 300 for 1 ½ hours or in the microwave for 10 minutes, turning the potatoes over after 5 minutes.  Bake until potatoes are soft on the inside.
8. 1 C half-and-half cream
9. Onion powder, to taste
10. Shredded cheddar cheese
11. Chopped green onions

In a large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp. Set bacon aside.  Reserve 1 tablespoon bacon drippings and drain the remainder. Saute garlic in the drippings until tender. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper; mix well – you may need to add some broth to create a paste. Gradually add the remainder of the broth. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes and cream; heat through but do not boil. I partially mashed the potatoes with a potato masher.  Garnish with bacon, cheese and green onions.