Creamy Potato Soup and French Bread

6 slices of bacon
1 can cream of chicken soup (I use 99% fat free)
1 cup chopped onion
3 cans milk (use the can from the soup)
1 cup water
2 cups cubbed potatoes (this is about 3 medium potatoes)
1 cup potato flakes
2 Tbs. Parsley
1 1/2 tsp. salt
Cook bacon in pan, reserve 3 Tbs. oil in the pan. Remove bacon and allow to cool. Meanwhile in pan with bacon oil, cook onions until clear and soft.
Place cubbed potatoes and water in a large pot. Cover and cook 15 minutes. Stir occationally.
Add onions, soup, milk, salt, and parsley to the potatoes and water. stir and cook on low heat. After well belnded, add the potatoe flakes. Just before serving, crumble bacon into small pieces and stir into soup.
Ryan's opinion: Really tasty. Better on a cold winter day, but still really good.
Renee's thoughts: This is really easy to make. I have put everything into a crock pot and just let it cook on low all day (I did cook the bacon seperately and the onions, but everything else was cooked together).

French Bread

2 cups warm water

2 Tbs. sugar

2 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. yeast

5-6 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water, add remaining ingredients and mix well. Knead 8-10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Let rise till double in size. Puch down with fist. Let it rise a second time. Puch down again. Shape into 2 loaves. Allow to rise until double in size. Slash tops with a sharp knife, spray generously with water and bake 30 minutes in a 400* oven. Spray every 5 minutes with water for the first 20 minutes.

Ryan's opinion: I don't like it crispy, so I don't like it sprayed with water. Good with butter and garlic.

Renee's thoughts: I don't like my bread super crunchy either, so I spray it only twice. That way it gets toasty, but not hard crunchy.