Potato Soup Shortcut

When it's the end of the "grocery" week but I didn't have time to make it to the store, I improved this soup.  It is a great use for leftover produce.  The additions I would make would be some peeled chopped potatoes and pieces of ham if I had them on hand, but it turned out fine without them.  We ate ours over sourdough bread.  There's probably enough to feed about 4 people here.

Throw the following into a crock-pot on High for a few hours:

1 1/4 cup potato flakes
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 cup milk
4 cups water (I'm not sure on this amount, but you can adjust to the thickness you like.  Mine was pretty thin, but I was scared it would taste more like mashed potatoes instead of soup.)
1 cup chopped celery
2/3 cup chopped carrots
2/3 cup chopped brocolli
1/2 cup diced onion
1/3 cup cheddar cheese
1 tsp onion salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black ground pepper
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp chives
a few dashes of bacon bits. (If I had ham I would use it instead)