Loaded potato soup

I made a delicious soup tonight. I looked through many recipes and couldn't find one easy enough and yummy looking enough so I combined a few. I made a really big pot because I like to share and I like to be able to freeze some. So you might want to pare this down a bit.

1lb bacon
4C chicken broth
water
6-10 med. sized potatoes(mine were pretty small Idahos so I used 10)
1 onion, diced
1-2 cloves or garlic, minced
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
2 cups milk/whipping cream(any combo of the 2)
2-3 cups shredded cheddar
1C sour cream
Salt and pepper

Cook bacon. Crumble. I oven baked mine earlier in the day and let the grease cool. You'll need about 2 tbsp of the bacon grease saved so I scooped it off the tin foil in the pan and put it to the side until I needed it.

Peel your potatoes and cut them up into chunks. Put them in a pot and pour in the chicken broth. Add enough water to cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook for about 20 minutes. Potatoes need to be fork tender but not mushy.

Get out your dutch oven or a very large pot. Add the bacon grease and melt it. Add your diced onions and saute until translucent. Add in the garlic for just a minute.

Pour off a lot of the potato liquid and reserve. Bring down to about half the level it was. Add the potatoes and left over liquid to the big pot and stir. Take a potato masher and mash the potatoes a bit so you get a good creamy texture with plenty of chunks. Let his mixture simmer while you prepare the next step.

Melt the butter in a med. saucepan. Add the flour and stir constantly for 2 minutes. Slowly pour in the milk, stirring all the while. Bring to a boil and allow to thicken-it doesn't take long. Stir this mixture into the potatoes and combine well. Simmer.

Add the cheese, sour cream, bacon, and salt and pepper.

It's now ready when you are!

I'll get a picture added when I take one.