Ingredients:
10-12 slices bacon, chopped (I often use the bacon ends & pieces)
8-10 russet potatoes, peeled & diced (doesn’t have to be perfect, just smallish chunks)
1/2 onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
6 Tbs butter
6 Tbs flour
3 cups chicken broth
3 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream or evaporated milk
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups shredded cheese (cheddar is best here, but you can use blends too)
4 whole green onions, chopped
1 tsp each, salt & pepper (or to taste)

Prep all ingredients before starting — it really helps!

In a large pot (dutch oven), cook bacon over medium-high heat until it starts to crisp up. Transfer to a paper towel-lined dish to cool, then roughly chop into small pieces when you have an extra moment. In same pot, add onions to bacon grease and cook until soft and just starting to turn that yellowy-sort of translucent color– about 3 to 5 minutes should do. Add garlic and cook another 30-60 seconds, just until fragrant; watch out, the garlic browns very quickly! Transfer this mixture to a small bowl, trying not to take much grease with it. Now add the butter to the pot and melt it. Remove pot from heat and whisk in the flour, a little at a time, until smooth. Return to medium heat and keep whisking the mixture for another minute or two; it should start to bubble. Slowly add the cream, broth, and milk, stirring constantly, until everything is combined well. Bring to a boil. Add the potatoes and the onion mixture. Simmer until potatoes are tender –like, you can easily stick a fork in them.

Now take a slotted spoon and remove about half of the potatoes from the pot. Use a stick blender to blend the soup in the pot until smooth. (If you don’t have a stick blender, I suppose you could just skip this whole step, you could mash the potatoes you pulled out, or, what you really SHOULD DO is carefully put the soup from the pot into the regular blender, probably in a couple of batches, and blend it up. Then get a stick blender as soon as possible, because they are very useful!) Stir the potatoes back in to the smooth soup in the pot and add the sour cream, chopped bacon, shredded cheese, chopped green onions, and salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Heat another 5-10 minutes. Serve.

Garnish as desired. Suggestions: Shredded cheese; additional bacon pieces; chopped green onions; chopped chives; sour cream