Crock Pot Wednesday - Slow Cooker Potato Soup

This week I chose to join Dining With Debbie's Crock Pot Wednesdays after a disaster in my kitchen on Valentine's Day. Sunday, if you follow my weekly menu plans, I had a Ground Turkey Casserole planned. It was already frozen and in the freezer in my awesome glass pyrex cake pan with a red lid (my mom got me these for Christmas one year).  I set the casserole out of the freezer to come to room temp before placing it in the oven. My oven was preheating and I stepped out of the room to read all the blogs that had been updated for Sunday....  About an hour or so, my 17 yr old son started playing Guitar Hero on the Xbox downstairs and I figured I should go put the casserole in the oven - when I got downstairs, my son had already put it in the oven - lid and all! Needless to say, the lid was melting quickly and had already deposited a spot of liquid plastic on the bottom of the oven. Nothing made its way into the casserole as I must have caught it quickly enough - but the lid was certainly ruined. After this, I decided I have to ensure he doesn't touch the oven again.... I am only hoping the crock pot will be safe!
Today is my husband's 33rd birthday and we have plans to go out to dinner. So Crock Pot Wednesday is mostly for my son. I have a perfectly great potato soup recipe that I want to make this week with the extra heavy cream and potatoes I already have on hand. In addition, I want to change up the recipe some as I recently purchased some great ingredients that are sure to compliment my potato soup recipe. I ordered some Cheddar Cheese Sauce powder and some Sour Cream and Chives powder from Barry Foods out of Ohio (through Amazon.com linked below). These arrived last week just in time for Friday's Potato Bar. Both are excellent products with a very high quality flavor - I can't wait to use them. Here's my recipe:

Ingredients:
1 bunch green onions, diced
1/2 lb bacon, crispy cooked and crumbled
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
1/2 lb baby carrots, shredded
2 stalks of celery, diced
3 cups heavy cream, divided
1/3 cup Barry Farms Cheddar Cheese Sauce Powder
1/2 cup Barry Farms Sour Cream and Chives Powder
4 Tbsp All Purpose flour
3 cups chicken broth (3 Tbsp Barry Farms bullion and 3 cups hot water)
2 to 3 lbs potatoes, washed and diced to bite sizes (with skins)
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:
Cook bacon, set aside to cool. Saute minced garlic in 1 Tbsp left over bacon grease. Add garlic to crock pot. Wash and dice all vegetables. Place in Crock Pot. Stir together 1/2 cup Sour Cream and Chives Powder, 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour, and 2 cups heavy cream - pour over veggies in Crock Pot. Season with 2 Tbsp Italian Seasoning, salt & pepper to taste. Add Chicken broth and stir. Cook on low heat for 7 hours. In a small saucepan, mix 1 cup heavy cream, 2 Tbsp All Purpose Flour, and 1/3 cup cheddar cheese sauce powder - cook on medium low heat until mixture thickens. After soup has cooked, pour cheddar cheese sauce over soup and sprinkle on crumbled bacon - stir and serve. Garnish with shredded cheese and diced green onions or chives.

Hope you enjoy the recipe and be sure to visit Dining with Debbie to view more great Crock Pot Wednesday posts!