Nov 20, 2004
I wasn't so sure this would be a four star recipe as I was making it, but it turned out well in the end. I wish I had followed another reviewer's advice and fried the bacon first, then set it aside and sauteed the onions in the bacon grease. Cooking them at the same time didn't work so well because the onions were done well before the bacon, leading to burned onions, which in turn led to brown soup. Next time I'd add the onions at the beginning, but wait to serve the bacon with each individual bowl. It gets soggy being in the broth. I also had to bump up the slow cooker to high for awhile because the potatoes just weren't getting soft enough. After I added the flour, half and half and evaporated milk, I expected the soup to get really thick and creamy, but it stayed pretty thin, even after adding more flour and bumping the slow cooker back up to high again. So I transferred everything to a pot on the stove and cooked it at a little bit higher temperature, being careful not to boil it. Even then, it never did get quite as thick as other potato soups I've had. The flavor did turn out great, after adding more salt and dill weed. My husband and I both really liked it, and it's not as fattening as other potato soups, especially using fat-free half and half and fat-free evaporated milk. I'd make this recipe again, but I'd probably do it all on the stove instead of in the slow cooker.
—MEGAN24