Crock Pot Potato Soup

Today I made potato soup in the crock pot-so easy and delicious!  And, now I can sleep well with the certainty that I met surpassed my recommended carb intake for the day.

I planned the recipe last night as I was running 2 miles.  That's right, 2 miles.  (About once a year-or less-I get the urge to spontaneously go running and I know I better act on it because the 'feeling' is fleeting, guaranteed.)  I rationalized that potato soup would be justified since I was burning the calories ahead of time.  Since that's how it works.

Anyway, here's the recipe.

-1 pkg southern style frozen hash browns
-1 med onion, chopped (I put mine in the food processor.)
-4 cloves of garlic, pressed/minced
-7 slices of bacon, cut into small pieces (I use my FAVE kitchen tool-kitchen shears & chose 7 slices  
     b/c that's what was left in a Ziploc in the freezer from who knows when.  And since I'm a runner I can
     afford a little extra bacon, right?)
-3 c chicken broth
-1 can cream of chicken soup (I'm iffy on this and think I'll leave it out next time; seems so processed...)
-4 oz cream cheese (I use low fat.)
-pepper to taste
-shredded cheese, chives, and sour cream to garnish soup before serving

Directions:
1.  Saute onion, garlic, and bacon on the stove until tender (I made sure the bacon was done, too.  Thank you Food Bacteriology 302-or whatever it was way back when!)
2.  Put frozen hash browns, onion/garlic/bacon mixture, chicken broth, cream of chicken soup, and pepper into crock pot and stir.
3.  Cook according to what time you would like yours to be done.  (I cooked mine for 8 hours-my crock pot only has 4 options: 4, 6, 8, or 10 hours; no separate temp options.)
4.  Add cream cheese about an hour before it's done and stir.
5.  Serve with shredded cheese, chives, and sour cream.  Enjoy!