Potato and Leek Soup

First post of the new year!  Starting it off with a soup that has a whole pound of bacon in it...what's not to love?  This soup has a leek in it.  The only other recipe I have used a leek in is this yummy potato salad (that has no disgusting mayo) that is essentially potatoes, leeks, and Italian dressing, but it looks way more complicated when it's in the bowl.  But I know that leeks are related to onions, but they kind of look like celery, and you cut them like celery.  And you only use the white part.  Oh and for some reason, once you cut off the root and the green leaves, you cut it in half and rinse it under cool water to remove the sand (??) particles.  Maybe the leeks stopped at the beach on their way to the grocery store, I don't know.  So this soup is a crock pot recipe, and it's from Simple & Delicious.  We had this with a dinner roll recipe that I will post separately.

Potato and Leek Soup
4 cups chicken broth
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 1/2 cups chopped cabbage (I did not include this)
2 medium carrots, chopped (I used 10 baby carrots and sliced them thinly) 
1 medium leek (they were all one size at Hannaford)(white portion only), chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley (I didn't have any fresh, I just used a few tsp of dried)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup sour cream
1 lb bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

Combine first 11 ingredients in a 4 or 5 quart slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until vegetables are tender.

Before serving, combine sour cream with 1 cup of soup; return all to the slow cooker.  Remove the bay leaf and stir in the bacon. 

I thought this was quite good.  And it smelled great.  But I could tell Steve didn't like it that much.  He of course did eat it, but when I asked what he thought he said "I like your other potato soup, too.  The one with the cheese in it."  So there you go, not a big fan, and this from the man that likes almost everything.  He does prefer stews to soup, so it was probably just his personal preference.  So I guess it's not one we'll have again, but it was good and easy. 

So, if you left the bacon out at the end, this would be a vegetarian meal.  I love bacon too much to try/do that.  But because of that I did put it in the "meatless" category, too.