Ugh I looked outside today and this is what I saw…depressing. BUT on days like today I love to break out the crock pot and make something hearty and delicious. My mother-in-law is also visiting today so I tried to have healthy, low sodium ideas as well.

This is one of my favorite soups of all times. It is a play on the loaded baked potato and the best part is even the pickiest of eaters seem to enjoy this recipe.

Ingredients

4-5 Large Russet potatoes

1 large onion

5 stalks celery

1 bag of Bear Country Potato Soup

1 package bacon

1 cup sour cream

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Peel, chop, and boil potatoes for 10 minutes.   Focus on having the potatoes in bite size pieces. Add boiled potatoes to crock pot.

Fry bacon until crispy, set aside.

Chop celery and onions. Place celery and onions in rendered bacon fat and fry until soft. Add to crock pot.

Add the bag of soup mix to the crock pot. The bag instructs to mix with 8 cups of water but since I add so many extras I typically use 10 cups. Use a whisk to get out all of the lumps.

I cut up the bacon using a kitchen scissors, it is just easier that way. For this occasion I made regular bacon as well as turkey bacon. I had my guests add bacon to their soup depending on which bacon they prefer. If your crowd is not as health conscious (or picky) you can put the bacon right into the crock pot.

I like to keep the soup on the low setting of my crock pot for a few hours so that it can thicken and also make my house smell delicious (particularly on cold rainy days). Once you are ready to serve the soup I put out sour cream and cheddar cheese for my guests to add on top of the soup.

Typically I don’t add any extra seasoning but do put out salt and pepper, especially if my mother-in-law is visiting since she is on a strict low-sodium diet (if she asks the entire recipe is low sodium, although I even bought low sodium turkey bacon so really I should receive some sort of award.)