Roasted Garlic potato Soup

Remove white papery skin from each garlic head (do not peel or separate cloves). Wrap each head separately in aluminum foil. Bake at 350 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 carlic, and saute 5 minutes. Add potator, 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). Notes: I made this soup omitting the carrots and bacon, and using non-fat milk, dried parsley (to taste), and salt-substitute (a mixture of herbs - Mrs. Dash is the brand). It was quite good this way, and fat and sodium are reduced even further. When I made this, six good-sized baking potatoes = 6 cups. If you want a thicker, less lumpy soup, use more than 2 cups of the potato mixture in the blender. If you want it lumpier, use less.