Loaded Baked Potato Soup

As soon as I read the recipe for Loaded Baked Potato Soup on the Cook's County website, I wanted a bowl for dinner. Nick and I stopped by Hy-Vee to grab some items for the recipe. The recipe called for 8 ounces of bacon chopped then fried in a Dutch oven. You then strain the bacon and fry up the potato peels (from the 3lbs of potato the recipe calls for) in the grease. Everything is made in the one pot if you have an immersion blender which, we received one as a wedding gift (fun and handy kitchen tool).

The end result was delicious, especially on a cold winter night. It's a heavy soup with the 4 cups of cheddar cheese and a cup of heavy cream. Because it is a thicker soup, something we noticed is that it turned out a bit grainy because of the pureed potatoes. The recipe made 8 servings so, I am looking forward to leftovers! Here is a photo of the soup topped off with bacon, fried potato peels, and scallions: