If you ever have some extra baked potatoes lying around

then you should really check out this potato soup recipe from allrecipes.com. (Which is my go-to recipe site.)

Here's the thing. I love potato soup. It's probably my favorite kind of soup. And there are so many varieties of potato soups.

And another thing. In my experience, it's pretty hard to mess up a soup. (Well, your typical soups.) So, you can adjust the recipe to suit your tastes. Or add things. Or substitute things. Or leave things out. And the soup will still be delicious.

But anyway, the recipe:

Ingredients

• 3 bacon strips, diced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 cup half-and-half cream
• 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• Shredded Cheddar cheese
• Minced fresh parsley

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp. Drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings. Set bacon aside. Saute onion and garlic in the drippings until tender. Stir in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add broth. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, cream and hot pepper sauce; heat through but do not boil. Garnish with bacon, cheese and parsley.

Confession: I did not have any baked potatoes lying around. So I cooked my potatoes in the chicken broth (and left the skins on them). Also, I made extra bacon and added it to the soup while the soup was cooking (because that's how Tyler likes it).  And also because I love bacon--especially turkey bacon. And I left out the parsley--because I'm not a huge parsley fan.

See what I mean about soups being customizable? Besides. For those of you not living in Utah and experiencing gorgeous weather, you can avoid heating up your oven (and the rest of your house) and still have incredibly good potato soup.

Anyway. Bottom line: try this soup out. You'll be glad you did.