Crock-Pot Potato Cheese Soup

This is the first time I have ever made this... it came out pretty good. Kurt said the only thing he would change is to add more onion but I think that is a personal preference. I will keep playing with it until I prefect it but it's a pretty good start. I typed this blog out as I did it so it's done in two parts. A list of ingredients is at the very bottom. VERY IMPORTANT: When using milk, sour cream or half & half these items should not be added until the last 20 to 30 min. These items can separate when cooked over a long period of time and they will curdle in your meal

The Night Before: I'm going to prep as much as I can tonight while Sarah is in bed so that I don't have to do as much with her under foot in the morning. Plus, we have somewhere to be in the morning and I need to get out of the house at a decent time. :o) Prep and store in the fridge, celery, onion, bacon and chicken broth. With all of this done, in the morning I will only have to peel and cube potato's. So much faster to prep the night before.

In the Morning:
In the crock-pot combine potato's, celery, onion, bacon, chicken broth, butter and water. Cook on Low for 8 hours. 20 minutes before serving add the pint of half & half and shredded cheese. I took a potato masher and mashed the potato's down so that there were not huge chunks of potato's. You can leave them big if you want to... again personal preference. Continue heating until warm the entire way thru and cheese is all melty.

Ingredients

3 ribs of Celery sliced in half and then cut into bite-size pieces
4 stalks? of green onion cut from top to bottom (minus the roots)
8 slices of bacon, crispy and crumbled ( I prefer to bake this in the oven, I don't like to fry. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, and place the bacon on it. Bake in the oven at 350 for 20-30 min or until it looks crispy.
4 cups of chicken stock or broth. I don't keep canned broth in the house sometimes I have it in the freezer from when I cook an entire chicken, but not this time. So I boiled water and added bouillon cubes. One bouillon cube per cup of hot water.
6 medium to large Potato's, peeled and cubed
1 cup of Water
3 Tablespoons Butter or Margarine
1 pint of Half & Half
2 cups of shredded cheese
salt and pepper to taste