Year Round Corn Chowder
Serves 8
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 quarts chicken broth
1 cup half and half (I used fat free half and half)
3 cups or 1 pound frozen or fresh corn kernels
1 pound baby (new) red or yellow potatoes, quartered (I used regular yukon gold potatoes and made them with about a 1/2-3/4 inch dice)
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced red bell pepper (I didn't add this, Jim is not a fan of it)
1/4 cup diced cooked bacon (use the real stuff people, turkey bacon has fillers and things and you are not using that much bacon. Enjoy the flavor of the real stuff)
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter (I used Country Crock margarine)
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
In a large pot, whisk the flour into the broth until no lumps remain. Add the half and half, corn, potatoes, onion, bell pepper, bacon, butter, sugar, salt, pepper, and thyme and stir to combine.
Set the lid ajar and cook the chowder over medium low heat for 35 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Serve immediately.
*Ok so some quick notes or suggestions. You can add all sorts of things to this recipe to change it and make it your own. Like adding shredded carrots, leeks, diced chicken or ham. Just make sure that you cut your vegetables like carrots etc small enough so they cook in the allotted time. Also if you would like this to be thicker more like a chowder, you can use a few tricks like adding some dried potato flakes or pureed cauliflower.
I can't tell you if this would freeze well as I didn't make a whole batch so there was not much left over after dinner. It found it's way into Jim's lunch. It was very tasty and very versatile. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
