Chele's Potato Soup

I had several potatoes I needed to use up, so I decided to try to make potato soup. After a thorough Pinterest search, I found a recipe that had all the ingredients I had in my house.  As I started collecting ingredients, it sounded rather bland.  So I searched again and found another recipe with some more flavorful ingredients.  Then I threw caution to the wind and just did my own thing, taking things from both recipes and a few additions of my own.  I must say it turned out quite yummy, so I figured I'd better write it down! So here it is:

6 slices bacon (I used the precooked kind)

1 TB olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced 

8 baby carrots, sliced

4 russet potatoes, cubed (I did not peel them, like them better that way)

3 cups chicken broth

1 cup milk

1/4 cup flour

1 cup shredded cheddar jack cheese 

1 5.3 ounce container of plain Greek yogurt

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper, if you like a little kick

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large stockpot over medium heat, add bacon and cook until crisp. As I used precooked, this only took about a minute.  Transfer to plate, set aside.

Add olive oil to pot, then add garlic and carrots, stir to coat with the oil.  Add potatoes, add salt and pepper to taste.  Stir 1-2 minutes, then add chicken broth, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes or so, until potatoes are tender.  While it is simmering, in a separate container whisk flour and milk together until smooth.  Slowly add milk mixture, stirring constantly.  Add cheese and about half of the yogurt, cayenne pepper if using, and simmer another 5 minutes or so.  If it's too thick, add milk until desired consistency.

Just before serving, sprinkle bacon on top, serve with remainder of yogurt and more cheese to add to each bowl, if desired.  I did end up putting the bacon in the microwave about 15 seconds before adding to soup to crisp it up a bit more.  Nice and thick and fairly low fat, depending on what type of milk you use.