Baked Potato Soup

Lately, I have been trying to convince myself that a dinner of just mashed potatoes is an acceptable thing to serve to my family since a) I have a ton of potatoes and b) c'mon doesn't it just sound delicious. Anyway, since I failed to convince myself, I decided that a potato soup would have to be close enough and I had pretty much everything I needed on hand, which is always a big selling point when I'm trying to figure out dinner.


Baked Potato Soup
2 tblsp butter
1/2 medium onion, chopped
3 small carrots, sliced
6-8 slices of bacon, diced (mine was already cooked and frozen)
5 medium potatoes, cut in 1" cubes
1 quart chicken stock
1 cup water (more or less as necessary)
salt and pepper
1 cup provolone cheese (the only thing I didn't have on hand was cheddar cheese, but the provolone worked surprisingly well)
1/2 cup whole milk
Melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and carrots and cook until tender. (If you're bacon isn't already cooked, you can cook that first and then sweat the onion and carrots in the bacon fat and a touch of butter if more fat is necessary.) Add bacon once onion and carrots are tender. Let cook together for a few minutes, then add potatoes, stock, and salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Monitor the potatoes while cooking to make sure they remain covered in liquid. Add water to keep potatoes covered. Once potatoes are fork tender, remove from heat and use a stick blender to smooth out the soup. Add milk and cheese and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Serve with a nice baguette.