Cream Cheese Potato Soup

It is actually cold down here in Florida this week, so I decided it would be a good time to make soup.  Richard isn't a huge soup fan, but he decided he liked Panera Bread's Potato Soup.  So google and I found a few recipes based on that to try.

This is the recipe I started with:
Panera's Cream Cheese Potato Soup
By Shawn H on January 08, 2006

Ingredients

1. 4 cups chicken broth
2. 4 cups peeled and cubed potatoes
3. 1/4 cup minced onions
4. 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
5. 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
6. 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
7. 1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, cut into chunks

Directions

1. Combine broth, potatoes, onion, and spices.
2. Boil on medium heat until potatoes are tender.
3. Smash a few of the potatoes to release their starch for thickening.
4. Reduce to low heat.
5. Add cream cheese.
6. Heat, stirring frequently, until cheese melts.

 
I started with a whole onion, two large russet potatoes and three cloves of garlic and the rest of the recipe as follows.  After I got through the whole thing we decided it was too onion.  So I boiled up another large potato to add to the pot.  Added that and mashed up everything in the pot.  While I was mashing I chopped up another large potato into bite size pieces and added that when they were fork tender.

I also mixed in 5 slices of cooked bacon and served it with cheddar cheese.



 


I took this picture the next day when I had leftovers for lunch since I spaced on taking a picture when I served it for dinner.  



This was very hearty and yummy.  I liked the texture that it ended up being.  Richard felt it was still a bit too onion flavor, but he ate a huge bowl so I guess he liked it (o: 




Next time I will only use a 1/2 an onion or less.  I will continue to use the ratio of 6 cup of potato to 4 cups of stock to keep the thicker consistency.  I will try this again, after we finish the second batch that I froze for another week.