The Best Baked Potato Soup Ever

I was definitely craving some comfort food. It's been pretty cold outside and this soup did not disappoint! I had some red potatoes I needed to use and also some bacon and heavy whipping cream. At first I was just going to make baked potatoes but instead googled baked potato soup and found this recipe at recipezaar.com. It was simple to make.

The Best Baked Potato Soup Ever
SERVES 4 -6
Ingredients
2 medium potatoes (about 2 cups chopped) (I used 4 red potatoes; the largest 4 in the bag)
(added) 5 slices of turkey bacon
3 tablespoons butter (I only used about one tbsp and substituted bacon grease for the other 2 tbsp)
1 cup diced white onion
(added) 1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons flour
4 cups chicken broth (2 cans)
2 cups water
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 cup instant mashed potatoes (I used two 4oz packets that were "loaded baked potato" flavor)
1 teaspoon salt (omitted - with the bacon, etc. it seemed salty enough to me)
3/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/8 teaspoon thyme
1 cup heavy whipping cream or half-and-half
(ADDED) 40z of sour cream
(ADDED) 1/2 cup of milk
GARNISH
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup crumbled cooked bacon
1 chopped green onion (green part only)
Directions
1 Wash potatoes thoroughly and microwave until tender.
2 If you would like you can always bake in a 400 degree oven for one hour or until done.
3 As the potatoes are cooling, melt your butter in a large saucepan and saute your onions until light brown. (At this point I fried the bacon then cooked the onion and 1 tbsp of minced garlic in the bacon grease and 1 tbsp butter)
4 Add in your flour to make a roux.
5 Add in your chicken broth, water, cornstarch, instant mashed potatoes and spices and bring to a boil.
6 Reduce your heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.
7 Take your cooled potatoes and peel off the skin and chop up into desired pieces.
8 Add in your chopped up potatoes, bacon, milk, sour cream and the heavy whipping cream to your soup and bring it back to a boil.
9 Reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes or until it is thick.
10 Garnish with cheddar cheese, crumbled bacon and green onions.
11 ENJOY!