Baked Potato Soup

I was super excited to try this recipe. You can imagine my disappointment when this didn't turn out right. The flavors were awesome, but the consistency was not. The cream cheese just did not melt right, and we kept it on a LOT longer that stated in the recipe. I still might try it again, but we'll see. For now, we rated it a 2.5/5.

Baked Potato Soup-adapted from More Make it Fast Cook it Slow by Stephanie O'Dea

• 5 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced in 1-2 inch chunks
• 1 small onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 quarts chicken broth
• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese
• crumbled bacon, green onion or chives as garnish (optional)

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Put the potatoes into your stoneware, and add the onion and garlic. Sprinkle in the seasonings and pour in the chicken broth. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4. The potatoes should be fork tender. You can use a potato masher or a handheld stick blender to mash the potatoes into the soup. You want to get rid of all large chunks of potato to make a smooth soup.

After smashing the potatoes, squeeze in both packages of cream cheese and replace the lid of the cooker. Cook on high for about 30 minutes or until the cream cheese is completely dissolved. Stir a few times during this 30 minutes. Garnished with crumbled bacon, green onion or chives.