Ugly Looking Potato Soup

I realize this potato soup looks kind of gross, but trust me, it was good. I made the mistake of letting the soup come back to a high boil after I added the cheese, which in many instances will start to separate and turn out looking like my ugly soup. When making macaroni and cheese, you should always add the cheese at the end when the pot is off of the burner so nothing ends up boiling and separating...I guess I should have followed this same method with the soup.

The bacon I added made up for the lack of presentation with this soup though. Good and unhealthy!


Ingredients
1/4 - 1/3 of an onion, chopped
3 slices of thick bacon
3 - 4 russet potatoes (medium to large sized)
half and half
chicken broth
shredded cheddar cheese
salt
pepper

The ingredients list is not specific with the volumes of the liquids used since I rarely follow a specific recipe when making soups, so it is more of a rough estimate that I have written above of all of the ingredients.

Directions
Roughly chop the bacon, then using a large soup pot, saute the onions and the bacon until the onions start browning. Oil does not have to be added because of the bacon.
As the onions and bacon are browning, chop up the potatoes into about 1-2 inch chunks. Before chopping the potatoes, you can bake them first in the oven (or microwave like my lazy self) first until they are almost tender. I like to do this to speed up the cooking process of this soup. Also, you can peel the potatoes if you do not like the skin, but I rarely ever do this step.
Incorporate the potatoes into the pot with the onions and bacon and brown the potatoes a little bit before adding the half and half and chicken broth. I realize I do not have specific measurements above for these two liquid ingredients, but I usually prefer using more half and half then chicken stock depending on how salty the chicken stock is. Just make sure your liquid covers all of the potatoes in the pot. Then add salt and paper to taste, but keep in mind that the bacon is salty as well.
Bring the soup to a boil and then lower the temperature so that the soup is simmering, stirring every so often.
When the potatoes are tender, turn off the heat and add the shredded cheddar cheese. I recommend adding about a half cup of cheese and using extra cheese at the end as a topping.
Other toppings could be chopped green onions, crispy bacon, sour cream, etc! I even like to add steamed broccoli to it sometimes.

This soup keeps really well when frozen, so feel free to double or even triple the recipe and freeze away!