Kiki's Bacon-Tater Soup and Weight Update

Weight Loss update:

Hey guys! It's been a while since I've updated my weigh ins. My little family moved to a new place this summer, so things were very scattered for a time. My scale was put into our storage unit while we went through everything and set up the new place. It took a bit to settle in to our new routines, but I did finally go get my scale. My current weight is 273.4. I'm disappointed I didn't meet my original goal of losing a certain amount of weight by my birthday at the end of July. All I can really say is, when I made that goal, I didn't know we'd be moving as soon as we did, and I seriously underestimated how the stress was going to affect me. It's a learning experience, and I definitely plan to work even harder now that we are in a much better place. 

Since I don't know what week we're on, and my computer is still in storage (oops), I will be updating off schedule. I don't want to make a weekly promise until I've gotten the hang of my organization for our daughter's school/ homework schedule. Life happens, right? 

Ok, I think I've gotten my shortcomings covered, so that's enough of that. I DO have a new recipe for you! It's our version of Loaded Baked Potato Soup. Which my daughter has decided to call Kiki's Bacon-Tater Soup. If you're new here, I'll warn you, I don't really measure. It makes this dish a little more complicated to explain, so forgive me. Anyway here it is:

Kiki's Bacon-Tater Soup 

Ingredients:

• Russet potatoes - I typically use 1 potato per person +1 extra. If I want leftovers, we use 2 per person and leave it at that. 
• Small Yellow Onion - diced very fine
• Minced Garlic
• Green Onion
• Chicken Broth
• Flour 
• Butter
• Cream - either heavy whipping cream or half n' half
• Cream cheese - I prefer the kind that is whipped as it melts down faster
• Sour Cream
• Cheddar Cheese - shredded
• Bacon
• Salt
• Pepper
• Paprika 
• Ground Nutmeg

Directions:

1. Wash, peel, and dice the potatoes. Here's the thing: typically you want your potatoes to be roughly the same size and shape to allow more even cooking time. That's NOT the case here. We're using a crock pot for a number of hours. And you want some of the potatoes to mash to give texture to the soup, and some potatoes to retain their size to bite into. What I did was cut all different sizes, and made that extra potato, extra thin and small. 
2. Add potatoes, minced garlic, diced yellow onion, a dash of salt, dash of pepper, paprika, and chicken broth into the crock pot. How much chicken broth? Enough to cover the ingredients, but not so much that you fill the crock pot. LEAVE ROOM! Very important, because you will be adding additional liquid later. 
3.  Give this a good stir. No really, a good stir. Then cover the crock pot and cook on HIGH for 4hrs. I know it's so very tempting, but DO NOT LIFT THE LID during these 4 hrs. Not for any reason. Leave that lid alone!
4. After 4 hrs, you can start prepping the rest of the dish, but still DON'T lift that lid! Instead, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Forgive me, I don't know how to do the little circle with an f next to it. 
5. Lay out the bacon on a baking sheet. I don't know if it's necessary to spray the baking sheet with cooking spray, but I do. Then put the bacon in the oven for 5 to 7 minutes, 10 minutes if you really like it crispy. We don't, but to each their own. 
6.  Here's the part that's tricky to explain: you need to make a ROUX. It takes a frying pan with a tall lip, a metal whisk and equal parts butter and flour. I typically use a regular spoon to measure the butter, and a spoon the same size for the flour.  You need at least two spoons of butter depending on how much you're making. Spray the pan, then melt the butter. Add flour a little at a time, whisking it into the butter. You want it to thicken quite a bit, but you don't want it clumpy. It's really important that you don't burn this, so keep it moving, whisking consistently. You may not need all the flour. If this explanation is too confusing, I would recommend looking up a video of how to make a ROUX. It's how I learned, and having the visual really helped. Maybe, once I'm more organized, and have my computer back, I can link a video or make one myself. 
7. Once you have your roux, you need to add the cream in small amounts, once again whisking consistently. The cream will thicken. Add more and thicken that. Do this until you have the desired thickness and amount for the amount of soup you're making. For our little family, we used roughly a cup and a half of cream, and 3 cups of broth in the crock pot. Again, it's really your preference. If you like your soup thicker, use more cream sauce (bechamel) if you like it thinner, use less. 
8. Once the cream is thickened into a nice sauce, you'll want to add some salt, pepper, paprika, and ground nutmeg. Whisk that together. 
9. Add cream cheese to the sauce and let that melt through. Whisking. Always whisking. 
10. Add a sprinkle of cheddar cheese to the sauce and whisk. 
11. Now you get to open the lid! Ok, so you're going to open the lid of the crock pot, and pour in your cream sauce. Mix it together WITH A POTATO MASHER! It makes it easier to mix and mash at the same time. Remember not to mash it so much that it's completely smooth. You want some nice chunks of potato to bite into. 
12. Cover it back up, (boo I know) and turn the crock pot down to low. Cook on low for 30 minutes so it all comes together nicely. 
13. While you're drooling waiting, the bacon should be cooled enough to crumble. And slice a little bit of green onion. 
14. Once the 30 minutes are up, it's ready. Serve it with shredded cheddar and bacon sprinkled on top, a dollop of sour cream, and garnish with green onion. 
15. ENJOY!

And the end result...

Sorry guys, I forgot to take the photo until after I'd mixed in the toppings and garnish. It was too delicious to wait!

My thoughts:

The great thing about this soup is how well you can control the sodium content. I use reduced sodium broth, and reduced it further by actually using a mixture of 1 part broth to 1 part water. I used salt sparingly. There are ways to make this recipe healthier, and I'm still exploring all of them. This soup is very special to our family. Whenever we go out to a restaurant, if it's on the menu, we order a bowl to share. It's a tradition my daughter loves so much, she asked me to make it at home. So this one was for her. 

Until next time!