Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 5 pounds russet potatoes, washed but NOT peeled. Diced into 1/2 inch(ish) cubes
• 1 medium/large yellow onion, diced
• 10 cloves of garlic, minced (if you use jarred, it's a 5 teaspoon equivalent)
• 64 ounces (8 cups) chicken stock or broth
• 16 oz cream cheese, softened (I use low fat)
• 1 tablespoon seasoned salt
• optional garnishes: crumbled bacon, shredded cheese, green onions, diced ham

Directions:

1. Add potatoes, onion, garlic, seasoning, and chicken stock to slow cooker.
2. Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 10 hours.
3. Add the softened cream cheese and puree soup with an immersion blender until the cheese is incorporated and about half the soup is blended. (Alternately you could remove 1/3 to 1/2  half the soup and the cream cheese to an upright blender, then re-incorporate).
4. Stir well, top with your choice of garnishes & enjoy!

Yields about 10-12 servings.

*this makes a LOT of soup. I cut the recipe in half, because my crockpot is small, but I've made the whole recipe (when I had a different, bigger crockpot)....and just enjoyed the leftovers!!