Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Andrea came over and we made the Loaded Baked Potato Soup from the Pampered Chef Season's Best book. I had intended to make this for my next show, but good thing I tried it at home first - it's not a recipe well suited to a presentation. In fact, one of my customers who tried to make it actually threw it away before it was finished because it looked so gross! But it is a fun recipe to make using the Deep Covered Baker - and it is done entirely in the microwave. (If you don't have a Deep Covered Baker, order one from me, right now. You might not think you need it, but you do. If you don't believe me now, within a few months you will, when I am making fancy stuff in my microwave, and you are sitting at your computer with your mouth watering over it, about to go make it, when suddenly you remember that you didn't order one when I told you to. Just wait and see.)

Luckily, it tasted good. Ken even said it was better than Panera's soup. Salt and pepper make all the difference, though. I also used mild cheddar because I wanted it to taste like potato, not cheddar. Typically I like extra sharp, but I thought it might overwhelm the soup. I barely tasted it, so this worked. Optional add-ins listed are steamed broccoli florets and bacon. I steamed the broccoli by just wetting it and microwaving it for about 20 seconds. I like my broccoli to be much more crisp than tender, and it was a nice contrast to soup. We didn't use bacon, but that is what is in the Panera baked potato soup, so I would like to try it next time. I am not a big soup person, but I like chunky soups. This would be interesting pureed if that is something that you are interested in.