Loaded Potato Soup

Happy Monday! I’m sure a lot of you were wondering where I was hiding last week. (Or maybe you don’t even care, or didn’t notice.) I spent the week in Chicago for my day-job and was able to take in some delicious restaurants while I was there.  Sadly I missed my kitchen.  I made up for it this weekend, however!  When I returned home on Friday I had a brand new Cooking Light cookbook and the latest issue in my mailbox!  I pulled this Loaded Potato Soup recipe from the Cooking Light 25th anniversary issue.  This soup is easy, hearty and delicious. To avoid cooking bacon in the house, I opted for precooked bacon pieces as a topping.

To start, wash the potatoes and poke holes in them with a fork. Place them on a microwave safe dish and microwave for 12-13 minutes. Remove them from the microwave and cut them in halves, setting them aside to cool.

Heat the oil in a large pot and them add in the onion, saute for 3 minutes.  Add in the broth.  Mix together 1/2 cup of the milk with the flour in a measuring cup, making sure to break up any clumps.  Add this to the pot along with the remaining milk. Bring this to a boil and stir often to avoid the milk from burning on the bottom of the pot. Cook for 1 minute and then remove from the heat. Stir in the salt & pepper and the sour cream.

Once your potatoes are cool, remove the skins and lightly mash them before adding them to the soup.  Garnish the bowls of soup with the cheese, bacon and green onions.  There’s only 325 calories per serving of this hearty soup!