Loaded Potato Soup with Fried Potato Skins.

I love going downtown, it's the best place to live. I wish we lived in Houston instead of the outside of Houston. Today we went downtown because I needed a few more things for Zara. I needed a Pack and Play and we still need a Highchair. So since we were downtown we went to lunch at one of Hugo Ortegas other restaurants! This one was called Prego, I texted James to tell him where I was eating and he said I know you are but where? Haha, the stuff we think is funny :)
Anyways, here was what we got. I got the Crab Cake with the most amazing sauce that had fresh corn and Avocado, I'm on a huge Avocado kick right now so it really hit the spot!!

Mom got a Potato Gnocci dish with Sage butter and Peas. It was awesome. 

For my meal I got this delicious Duck Confit Homemade Ravioli with Roasted Pears, Truffle Butter, and Pistachios. It was one of the best things I've ever had. I love sweet with my savory. Yumm!!

Mom got the Veal Scallopini which was equally as delicious with a homemade linguine and tomato sauce. Mmmmm! 

And of course we had to get dessert, I mean come on! Their special was a Pumpkin Soufflé' with a vanilla bean ice cream and toasted pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top.

For dinner I decided that since I was so over the top full from lunch that I was going to make a soup and try to keep it light. But then soup turned into Potato soup, which turned into Loaded Potato soup, which turned into Loaded Potato Soup with Fried Potato Skins. Ugh.....I really try, I swear. Anyway, it was amazing.
I took some of it from the Pioneer Woman recipe, isn't she amazing? I've never had anything of hers that I didn't just absolutely love...
First I sliced up 5 pieces of thick bacon into lardons.

Put them in a dutch oven.

Then I diced up 1 large onion, 3 carrots, and 3 celery stalks with the leaves.

Next I took the Bacon out and put it on a plate for later. 

I put the veggies in and let them start to sweat in the beautiful bacon drippings.

I peeled and diced up 6 Russet potatoes saving the skins from one of the potatoes.

Once diced I put the potatoes in with the veggies and let them cook for about 5 mins.

Added a half cap full of Seasoned Salt.

Then a large couple of pinches of Salt.

And ground fresh Pepper into it.

Stirred that and cooked for 5 more mins.
Then I added 4 cups of chicken broth and because I ran out of chicken broth I added 2 more cups of water and added a pouch of chicken base to finish the rich taste of chicken. I brought that to boil for 10 mins.

In a seperate bowl I added a cup of milk and 3 tablespoons of Flour and whisked till combined. 

After the 10 mins I whisked in the milk/flour mixture.

Then let that boil for 5 more mins.

Lastly I took an emersion blender and blended it up till it was almost completly smooth but not all the way.

Then added a cup of Heavy Cream. 

Tasted for seasoning but it was perfect.
For the Fried Potato Skins, I heated up some oil in my Fry Baby and tossed the skins in for about 5 mins till they were crispy.

Put them on a paper towel and sprinkled with Salt. Easy Peasy.

To serve I ladled the Soup, put a dollup of Sour Cream, Shredded some Sharp Cheddar, sprinkled the leftover Bacon, put a sprig of Celery Leaf, and added the Crispy Potato Skins.

James loves this soup! So I gave him some for work tomorrow and then put the rest in a large freezer proof dish and put it in the deep freeze for when Zara is here.