The Immersion Blender Blunder

Slow Cooker Loaded Potato Soup

Ingredients

4 cups potato, peeled and chopped

3/4 cup onion

4 cups chicken broth

1/2 tablespoon salt

1/2 tablespoon pepper

4 tablespoons of butter

1/4 cup flour

1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sour cream

shredded cheese to taste

bacon to taste

Instructions

1. Set Slow Cooker to High (3-4 hour cook) or Low (for 7-8 hour cook) 
2. Add potatoes, onions, chicken broth, salt and pepper to slow cooker
3. approximately 45 minutes before you are ready to eat in a sauce pan over medium high heat combine butter, flour, heavy cream and sour cream.
4. Whisk thoroughly until thickened
5. Add the contents of the sauce pan to your slow cooker
6. Mix well
7. allow to cook on low for 30 minutes
8. Spoon to serving bowls
9. Top with shredded cheese and bacon
10. Enjoy

That was the original recipe I used. I have found several short cuts to make 1) more soup for meal prep and 2) less steps in the process. 

David's Slow Cooker Loaded Potato Soup

Ingredients

5 pounds of Yellow potatoes, diced (don't bother to peel them unless you want to)

2 yellow onions, finely chopped

2 cartons of chicken broth

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup of flour

1 large carton of heavy whipping cream

2/3 cup sour cream

1 pound of shredded cheddar (to melt into the soup)

Shredded cheese to taste for topping

Bacon Bits for topping

Gold Fish crackers for mixing

Instructions

1. Wash and cube your potatoes
2. dice Onions
3. Add potatoes and onions to crock pot
4. sprinkle liberally with salt and black pepper
5. cover in chicken broth by 3/4" to 1" of liquid (it is ok to supplement with water)
6. Cook on High for 3-4 hours or low 8 ish hours until potatoes are fork tender
7. Add 1 stick of butter
8. Add 1 pound of shredded cheddar cheese
9. Add Heavy Whipping Cream
10. Whisk in Flour and mix until incorporated
11. Add Sour cream and mix 
12. Cook on high for 30 minutes
13. Dish out bowls
14. top with shredded cheese, bacon bits, and Gold fish crackers for a taste and cute spin

*Bam* Soup for days or for a crowd. 

My latest pot of soup had some major interesting twists. I bought myself a slicer that turns potatoes into French fries with an ample amount of elbow grease. I bought it just for making potato soup because mouth feel impacts the outcome for me. I tend to hand slice into French fry like spears and thought this would make the work easier. 

The theory was good. Right at the end of the slicing I managed to break the slicing blades. They sadly did not make the spronging noises that they should have as they came undone. Sad panda. Still, the shape and texture of the potatoes in the soup were pretty much perfect.                                                        

I had been thinking about buying an immersion blender for a while. For a smoother, creamier potato soup you can puree up 1/3 to 1/2 of the soup, or you can drop in an immersion blender and smooth things up. Here is the thing though, if you don't have experience with an immersion blender it is super easy to use it far too much. My soup seemed to have about a half dozen chunks of potato once I was done enjoying my new blender. 

To be fair it was delicious and filling. It was just much less potato and much more soup. I fixed this with a few more gold fish crackers and all was good. 

Some days I am clumsy in the kitchen. This was one of those days.