4 Ingredient Potato Soup

Last week, as I was pinning away, I saw this recipe and thought it seemed super easy and likely quite yummy - I was 100% correct.  :)  (I will post the reference link later.)  This is a slow cooker recipe, so it's great for the colder weather we are having because you come home from work and there is a warm, yummy meal waiting for you!

Ingredients
1 bag of frozen shredded hash browns
1 can low sodium cream of chicken soup
1 box (32 ounces) of low sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 blocks cream cheese, softened

Directions
Mix first three ingredients into slow cooker.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours, high for 4 hours.  1 hour before eating the soup, add cream cheese and allow it to melt into the soup.  Add bacon bits, chives, and cheddar cheese for toppings when serving. Enjoy!

Helpful Notes
- I found the soup to be a wee-bit thick - so, when I make this again, I will either 1) add more chicken broth or 2) add some water to the mix prior to cooking.

- I used neufchatel cheese in place of cream cheese and I thought it tasted great, plus you save yourself a few calories.:)

- The recipe said to cook for only 8 hours max, but as a graduate student getting back to your apartment within 8 hours is nearly impossible.  So, I let mine cook for 10.5 hours on low and I thought it worked out fine.  If you have a timer on your slow cooker, though, that would be the preferred method.

- I think the next time I make this, I'm going to try and add some broccoli to the mix when I add the cream cheese.  The soup was good, but I felt it was too starchy and needed some green veggies to boost it up a bit. 

- Do note that if the cream cheese is not fully softened, you'll get lumps of cheese in your soup.  Not a terrible thing to happen, but also not the most pleasing while trying to enjoy creamy soup.

- My last tip is specifically for fellow graduate students. Adding the softened cream cheese is a particularly difficult step in my opinion.  Once you get home, the last thing you want to do is wait for cream cheese to soften (which, PS, takes FOREVER!!!) and then wait another hour for it to melt into your soup. . . terrible idea. . . So, this is what I did:  I took the cream cheese to work with me, and about an hour and a half before I went home, I took it out of the office fridge and set it on my desk.  By the time I got home, it was perfectly soft.  I whipped it in my mixer for a few minutes to make it extra creamy, then added it to the soup.  It was perfect and it melted super fast.  In about fifteen minutes, the cream cheese was melted, the soup was creamy, and dinner was served!