Wok's For Dinner: Baked Potato Soup for the Crockpot

This recipe originally came from Chef Mom. I've only been holding onto it for nearly two years before finally--finally--making it for the first time. It was one of those recipes that sounded interesting, but I just never got around to making. I did my usual tweaking, and here's my version.

Baked Potato Soup for the Crockpot

Ingredients:
4-5 potatoes, peeled and diced small
3 slices bacon
3 Tbsp butter or margarine
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup water
2 Tbsp flour
2 cans chicken broth
1 1/2 cups instant mashed potato flakes
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp thyme
1 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 tsp chives

Directions:
Boil potatoes until tender; drain. Meanwhile, cook bacon. When done, allow to cook and then crumble. Melt butter or margarine in a skillet and saute' until until tender. Dissolve flour in water; whisk and add to butter/onion mixture. This will make a rough. Stir frequently over low heat. Pour chicken broth, one cup of your potato water, and roux into crockpot. Stir and add crumbled bacon, potatoes, potato flakes, salt, pepper, basil, thyme and milk. Stir. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours. Serve with cheddar cheese and chives on top.

This was ok. It tasted a lot like a ham & potato soup made by a brand new soup company. I don't think that I'll make it again. It wasn't very thick like I would expect a potato soup to be, and I wasn't too keen on the basil flavor.