Easy-Peasy Cheesy Potato Soup

bubba and i ♥ potato soup. love, love, love it. there is a local eatery that has a potato soup that is wonderful! after months of eating that every other week (or so) and a few attempts at emulating it at home, i finally figured it out! and because i'm nice, i'm going to share it all with you. i don't actually measure anything so sorry if you're a stickler for measurements, just eyeball it and go with what you like.

you will need:
24-32oz shredded hashbrowns
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 block of Velvetta (or more, personal preference)
water
onion
garlic
salt
pepper
cooked bacon/diced ham/ hamburger
small amount of olive oil or butter
*milk

1. on medium heat, using either EVOO or butter, sautee a little minced garlic and chopped onion until translucent in your soup pot (personal preference as to how much...if you don't want to do this, your probably don't have to)
2. add the whole bag of shredded potatoes then add water, just to cover the top of the potatoes. bring to a boil.
3. while waiting for that to boil, cube up your velvetta, open your cream of chicken (i assume cream of mushroom would work too!) and dice up your bacon or ham.
4. once the potatoes are boiling, turn the heat down til it's at a high simmer/low boil. cook until the hash-browns are completely thawed (about 7-10mins)
5. when your hash-browns look like this, you're ready for the next step. (you want to be able to squish them against the side of the pot and have them mash up a bit.
*optional step* if you want to mash up your hash-browns a bit, do that now using a spoon or potato masher. i like to mash them just a little bit so they aren't so 'stringy' but the place that originally makes this soup, doesn't seem to mash theirs at all.

6. add your cream of chicken soup, velvetta and meat.
7. stir until melted into soup. add salt, pepper and if you have it, onion & herbs mrs. dash is good too! let simmer on low low heat 5-30mins depending on when you want to eat. *if your soup is too thick, you can thin it down with a bit of milk. if it's too runny you can always add more velveeta!
7. tada! you're done! you can top with shredded cheese, green onions, more bacon, etc or nothing. i like mine super cheesy so i add more cheese.
doesn't that look so yummy? it makes alot. typically we have enough for all of us to enjoy a bowl, plus 2-3 servings leftover. (and it freezes really well. i actually like it better thawed from the freezer). we usually enjoy ours with a bit of crusty french bread. it's so easy (no peeling!), it's cheap (you totally can't tell if you use store brands at all!) and we usually have everything on hand. perfect for this cold weather!

* you might be able to make this using a reduced fat cream of chicken soup and the reduced fat or 2% velvetta if you're worried about calories--i'm not sure how it would turn out, but you could try!*