Cheesy Potato Soup

Found a great recipe on Our Best Bites today for a Baked Potato Soup recipe and I adapted it a little. Holy crap I can't wait til dinner! Of course I sample the dishes I make and lets just say my lunch comprised of this new soup and so will my dinner and I don't mind at ALL! Yum! You have to try this out. It's got an unexpected kick to it and is so smooth, creamy and comforting. I'm also making bread bowls to go along with this. Can't wait to sop up this delectable soup with some fresh bread. mmmm....my mouth is watering just thinking about it. I made a ginormous batch because I knew I would want to freeze this goodness and have it again at a later frosty date. So this recipe is for a huge batch. If you don't feel like doing a big batch, just cut everything in half.


You'll need:
-6 medium baked potatoes (I cooked mine in the microwave real quick and easy like)
-3 cloves of garlic, grated(use a small handheld grater, it makes it into a paste so you don't bite down on garlic bits.)
-6 tbs. butter
-5-6 medium carrots, shredded
-4 c. sharp cheddar cheese (I used a combo of what I had, med. cheddar and monterey jack)
-3 tsp. salt
-3 tsp. pepper
-9 c. milk (I used 6 c. of low fat milk and 3 c. of heavy whipping cream, cuz that's what I had and ran out of milk-tastes great!)
-1 large onion,chopped up small/minced
-1 c. flour
-2 cans of chicken stock/veggie stock (whichever one you have)
-1 1/2 c. sour cream
-8 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped up.
-chives


Directions:
-First put butter in a large stock pot. Melt and add your shredded carrots, minced onion and grated garlic. Let it saute till their all soft.
-Add half of your milk. Then slowly add your flour a little bit at a time, while constantly whisking so you have a smooth mixture and get all the lumps out. (If you can't get all the lumps out, put the soup in your blender and blend it up then put back into stock pot) Then add your cream and the rest of your milk & chicken stock.
-Let it simmer until it thickens.
-Cut your potatoes length wise and scrape out the flesh. Put the chunks of potato in a large bowl and mash up with a wooden spoon breaking up any large chunks. Then add it to the soup.
-Add your cheese and salt and pepper. Then stir till your cheese is melted.
-Take off heat and add sour cream and most of the bacon.
-Serve in bowls and garnish with bacon, sour cream and chives.
-Optional: this is great with bread of some sort.
It will knock your socks off!