Tony Roma's Baked Potato Soup

My Mom sent me this recipe a few years ago. I love this soup because it uses things that I almost always have on hand! This is Top Secret Recipes version of Tony Roma's Baked Potato Soup, by Todd Wilbur. I have not tried Tony Roma's soup, but this is SO good!!

Tony Roma's Bake Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 medium potatoes (about 2 cups chopped)
• 3 T butter
• 1 cup diced white onion
• 2 T flour
• 4 c chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups instant mashed potatoes
• 1 t salt
• 3/4 t pepper
• 1/2 t basil
• 1/8 t thyme
• 1 cup half and half (I always use 1% milk)

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake the potatoes for 1 hour or until done. When potatoes have cooked, remove them from the oven to cool.

As potatoes cool prepare soup by melting butter in a large saucepan, and saute onion until light brown. Add the flour to the onions and stir to make a roux.

Add the stock, water, cornstarch, mashed potatoes, and spices to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Cut potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out contents with a large spoon. Discard skin. Chop baked potato with a large knife to make chunks that are about 1/2-inch in size.

Add chopped baked potato and half-and-half to the saucepan, bring soup back to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for another 15 minutes or until it is thick.

Spoon about 1 1/2 cups of soup into a bowl and top with about a tablespoon of shredded cheddar cheese, a half tablespoon of crumbled bacon and a teaspoon or so of chopped green onion.