"Baked" Potato Soup

One of my favorite appliances in my kitchen are my Crockpots! I use them a lot. It is so easy to prep dinner while my son is eating lunch. I simply turn it on, and dinner is pretty much done. I love not having to worry about dinner once 5 o'clock rolls around.

 "Baked" Potato Soup 

Ingredients
5 lbs. Russet Potatoes, peeled & chopped into cubes
1 lb. Ham, cubed (I simply buy one of those air sealed packages of cubed ham at the store)
1 1/2 C. chopped onion
1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
48 oz. container chicken broth
1/4 C. butter
2 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. pepper
1 C. whipping cream
1 C. shredded cheddar cheese

Directions
 1. Combine first 8 ingredients in crock pot. Cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours. (Make sure you have a BIG crockpot, mine is a 5 or 6 quart, and it was plenty big).
2. Mash mixture until potatoes are coarsely chopped and soup is slightly thickened. Stir in cream and cheese. 3. Top with additional cheese and/or sour cream if desired.

This makes a ton, but if you're like me.... you'll be happy to have a yummy soup to eat for lunch all week!

** The soup pictured did not have any cheese in it, it tasted great without!