Leek Potato and Bacon Soup

I think I told everyone that with the weather getting colder you were going to see more soup recipes. Here is one of many. As much as I am a fan of quick food, I don't think that the soups and stews I make can be made quickly. The beans, ham hocks, whatever need time to cook. This is why I am a huge fan of the crock pot. With this in mind you are probably wondering what to expect. If you do a little bit of prep at night, you can either cook it all night and day at a lower heat, or you can throw everything together in the morning and have it cook all day, coming home to a wonderful, healthy meal that will warm you to the core and satisfy your palette. I realize that all of my soup and stew recipes are large batches. If the batch is too large, they freeze well. If you are comfortable canning them, that will work as well. It is always nice to have small servings of soup lying around for when you want or need them. With my soups you will never see more than a minuscule amount of grease. In this one, the starch of the potatoes stabilizes all the ingredients and thickens it. Recipe Name: Leek Potato Bacon Soup Ingredients: 1 lb bacon 1 leek 6 c milk 7 starchy potatoes-like russets 1 T salt 1 T pepper 1 chipotle 1 t nutmeg 1/2 T garlic Steps: * dice bacon cook it half way *thinly slice leaks add to bacon sweat until soft *dice potatoes *chop garlic *add milk, potatoes, garlic and whole chipotle to leaks and bacon cook on low in crock pot all day * add salt, pepper and nutmeg NOTES: * once you partially cook the bacon, the rest is best done in a crock pot or nesco. *sweat use a medium to low heat with the lid on, stir periodically * yes this needs to be cooked all day for the potatoes and leaks to break down. If you did not want to cook it all day, you could probably boil it for 15 minutes, stirring constantly then run it through a blender. *child and adult approved