Instructions: Remove white papery skin from each garlic head (do not peel or separate cloves). Wrap each head separately in aluminum foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour; let cool for 10 minutes. Separate cloves, and squeeze to extract 1/4 cup of garlic pulp; discard the skins.

Cook bacon in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until crisp. Add onion, carrot, and minced garlic; saute 5 minutes. Add potato, broth, salt, pepper, and bay leaf; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until potato is tender; remove bay leaf.

Combine garlic pulp and 2 cups potato mixture in a blender or food processor, and process until smooth. Return puree to pan; stir in milk, and cook over low heat until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat, and stir in chopped parsley.

Yield: 7 servings (serving size: 1 cup).

Brenda and all,

This is the best potato soup Ive ever had, bar none. Hubby and son dont like it (too much garlic, they say! Is there such a thing?) so when I make it, which is often, my daughter and I fight over it. Dont bother cooking bacon, the Hormel bacon pieces in a jar work quite well. I dont dice carrots for it, I roughly chop the pre-shredded (the coarsely shredded ones) ones from the produce aisle, and I never add the milk. Its been a hit here for 2 or 3 winters now. Think Ill go make a pot :) Nancy P.

I saw this recipe and immediately thought of you! I sure hope that the roasted garlic gets much less pungent since this recipe has almost whole head of garlic per serving! (I know that roasting generally does produce a mild yummy flavor).

Reggie, also notice that they recommend using a blender or food processor for the garlic-potato mixture.

This just came in my Cooking Light E-mail Newsletter this morning. I think that Ill try it, but I dont keep 2% milk or raw bacon around. We buy the already cooked kind at Sams and keep it in the freezer to microwave as needed. Im going to use 2 Tablespoons of Oscar Mayer Real Bacon Bits plus 1 Tablespoon of canola oil to saute the veggies and substitute skim milk. This would bring the WW points up to 4 [212 cals, 4 g. fat (13%CFF), 4 g. fiber] ["Jane" (janestarr@home.com)]

NOTES : Thickened by mashed potatoes, this rich soup gets its hearty, smoky flavor from the addition of bacon and garlic.

This was WAY wonderful....it is was a 1!! The only thing I like to not is that 5 garlic heads was too much - I used only 2 1/2 heads (and they werent that big) to make the 1/4 cup. Also, I used turkey bacon and it tasted just fine. [aml@skypoint.com

If you would like to email yourself the recipe for later use, or share the recipe with your friends or family, enter the email addresses below and this recipe will be emailed to you and others as well.