Restaurant Style Soup- at home

Baked Potato Soup*

4 large baking potatoes
2/3 c. butter
1/3 c. flour
6 c. milk
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4 green onions, chopped and divided
12 slices of bacon, cooked, crumbled and divided
1 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded and divided
8 oz. sour cream

Bake potatoes, let cool, peel and dice. Set aside.
Melt butter in a heavy sauce pan over low heat, add flour; stirring until smooth. Cook 1 min. stirring constantly. Gradually add milk, cook over med. heat, stirring constantly until mix is thickened and bubbly. Add potato pulp, salt, pepper, 2 tablespoons green onions, 1/2 cup bacon and 1 cup cheese. Cook until thoroughly heated; stir in sour cream. Add extra milk, if necessary, to obtain preferred thickness. Serve topped with remaining onion, bacon and cheese.
(adding the bacon just before eating will keep it crisp)

Notes: I omitted the green onions and still had a fabulous soup (they mostly just add color).
Mozzarella cheese and skim milk can be used to make a lower-fat soup. Don't skip or substitute the (real) butter.
When serving the leftovers the next day, I steamed some broccoli and added that to the soup- it was very good.

*Recipe found in my handy blue CBC church cookbook- submitted by Vi Tschetter.