Crockpot Potato Soup

A couple of months ago, I was on the hunt for a crockpot recipe for potato soup.  I certainly found a lot of versions of this dish, but my husband was pretty particular about what he did and did not want with this soup.  Any recipes that were overly cheesy were out, as were recipes that included broccoli (how dare we include broccoli!?!).  I found a simple enough recipe that I thought he (and the rest of us) would enjoy, via Pinterest.  (Here's my pin)  The original recipe comes from Life on Mars and can be found here.

This is how my hubby wanted his...
with cheese and crumbled bacon pieces
(Cute that he didn't want a recipe that
was too cheesy, but then he covered
his soup with chesse...)

Crockpot Potato Soup

Ingredients:

~5 pounds of potatoes, peeled and cut into small chunks
~4-5 cups of chicken broth
~1 stick of melted butter
~1 cup of half-and-half
~salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

For toppings:

~shredded cheese and crumbled bacon pieces (that's what we use, but you could certainly add other toppings to suit your tastes)

Directions:

Place the chopped potatoes in the slow cooker.  Pour in the chicken broth until the potatoes are just covered.  I cook this on high for about 4 hours (you want the potatoes to be really soft).  Since I don't have an immersion blender, I use a potato masher to blend the potatoes to the consistency that we like (really smooth...but you could leave it chunkier if that's what you like).  Add in the half-and-half, melted butter, salt, pepper, and garlic powder and stir until combined.  Cook uncovered for 20-30 minutes to let it thicken up.  Serve with toppings of your choice.

~nikki