This looks super nice if you garnish it with green onions and bacon but I didn't have any.
I found a recipe online awhile ago for corn and potato chowder which sounded delicious but the recipe itself was not getting stellar reviews. I read all of the comments, took in their suggestions for improving it and went to work with some of their and my own ideas. It has since become one of my favorite recipes and it's so yummy served with croissants. It's especially nice on these frozen Utah days. I mentioned this recipe on my sister's blog and my friend Jennie asked me for the recipe so here goes.
Ingredients:
1 can creamed corn
1 can corn (any kind you want, regular, white, mixed, hominy, whatever, don't drain)
3-5 potatoes (or one 16oz bag of hashbrowns)
1 medium onion
bacon slices cooked and crumbled or bacon bits (I obviously left this out of mine)
1/2 cup green onions
1 1/2 milk or half and half, your choice.
sour cream
1 oz. cream cheese
1/2 tsp. worcestershire
minced garlic/garlic powder/etc.
tobasco or your favorite hot sauce
cayenne pepper
salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated cheese (I just use whichever Tillamook baby loaf is on sale)
So you can either cook this in your slow cooker or on the stove. I did it on the stove because I was hungry now, not hours from now. Plus, I have no patience. If you're going to make this in the crock pot all you have to do is throw everything in and turn it on. Cube your potatoes, slap chop that onion to death and toss everything in. I didn't give amounts on the garlic, hot sauce, pepper etc. because that's all to personal taste but definitely add them in or else you'll have a bland concoction when you get home. If you'll be leaving this in the slow cooker all day while you're at work you may want to add more liquid (milk, water, broth) so it doesn't dry out.
Make sure to chop the potatoes into bite size pieces because once they're in the soup, you can't make them smaller.
I don't have a slow cooker yet so I cooked mine on the stove.
First, I emptied the two cans of corn into a pot.
Add your half and half/milk
Add worcestershire
Add however much garlic you want (I used about 1 tbsp. of minced and a few shakes of powder)
Add a few shakes of tobasco sauce
Add a handful of chopped onions (save the rest of the onions)
Add cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, and any other seasonings you may want
Add the cream cheese now too. I chopped it into smaller pieces so it melts faster
Mix that all together and cook on medium-low, stirring occasionally
Heat a skillet on medium heat, put butter or oil in the skillet and wait for it to melt.
Add the rest of the chopped onion and 1 or 2 tbsp. of minced garlic. Mix until covered in the butter.
Next add your chopped potatoes and stir in with the onions.
The point of this is, because your potatoes won't have all day to cook in the soup mixture and soften like they would in a crock pot, you want to soften them up first before you add them to your soup.
I like to add a few spoonfuls of sour cream to my potatoes as I brown them to give them some extra flavor and sweetness.
Once your potatoes are soft (not mushy but soft enough that you could eat them) add the potatoes and onions to your pot of soup.
Add your green onions and cheese at this time.
Continue cooking on low heat until it begins to thicken. Your potatoes will continue to cook and soften up a little but not much.
Once it's as thick as you'd like, garnish and serve. This keeps really well and tastes awesome reheated.
This recipe is great because you can take out things you don't like and add things you do and customize it easily to your specific tastes. You could also add other vegetables if you'd like. I think carrots might go well but I personally hate the things.
I was sitting in the VA waiting room the other day while Jake had a doctor appointment and I was getting pretty bored. I started flipping through the giant stack of Family Circle magazines they had there (it was that or the Marine newspaper, like I want to read that propaganda) and found all kinds of recipes in the back. So like any decent 80 year old woman, I ripped out the pages with the recipes I wanted and put them in my purse. A few days later I made their Farfalle with Peas and Goat Cheese recipe which is super easy and is now a favorite. There weren't any leftovers (which made me kind of sad) because we scarfed it all.
I was really craving an egg salad sandwich but my house stinks so badly like burned egg now that I feel like puking when I even think about eggs. It's all my fault. I put 7 eggs in some water to boil and then I stuffed some kleenex up my nose and laid down. I've been sick for the last several weeks and the runny nose is grossing me out. Anyway, Jake came in the room and said, "honey, you need to come see this." I figured he was probably talking about our cats cuddling or something because that's what he usually says when there is cute animal happenings but alas, no. My eggs had blown up and the kitchen was full of smoke. I had put the eggs on medium heat, and I meant to check back on them, and I did once, but then gave into the grogginess. So the water boiled out, the pan burned and the eggs blew up, all over the stove, the side of the fridge, the counter top and the floor. Our house stinks of burned egg, I'm really glad I still have kleenex shoved up my nose.
So this is a little awkward but I have to tell you about my favorite cat litter. I like the pine kind. I don't care which brand you pick, just be sure to get the pine pellets. It is a natural odor absorber and makes your house smell 100% less like cat litter. I never knew it existed until I was cat sitting for my friend Buzzy and saw how his cats love it. After it has been used a little it turns into sawdust which absorbs even more. The problem is finding it in stores. I guess Feline Pine is one brand but I bought a bag of that once, didn't really read it, and it was some weird green stuff. I must've bought the wrong kind. Now, I'm not just gushing over this cat litter because it looks pretty and eco friendly. I love it because I've tried every cat litter there is, literally, every single kind and this is the best. It smells the least (the corn litter stuff stinks) and it doesn't get wasted with the clumping, it doesn't give off strange chemical odors. I could only find it in one store back home and was having a hard time finding pine litter here as well but PetCo carries several varieties. yay! Now my cats are happy again.
I went to Ikea today. It's in Draper which is on the far side of Salt Lake from where I live so it's about an hour away but it's Ikea, which means totally worth it. I got a pretty duvet which matches the grey in our wall.
I also bought this tray that I love and these cute coffee cups even though neither of us drink coffee. They were too cute to pass up. I do drink tea but I already have my favorite tea cup from Anthropologie. Maybe I'll invite people over so they can use my cups but then again, maybe not.
What is wrong with these people? The Huffington Post recently reported on how the Susan G. Komen Foundation spends about a million dollars a year suing smaller mom and pop charities for using the term "for a cure". What the hell? Who gives a shit if they're Kites for a Cure or Mush for a Cure, how about, you're all trying to raise money to make the world a better place so leave them the fuck alone and let them raise money to find a fucking cure for what is ailing the people of the world. I've refrained from donating to Komen in the past because I had heard of other shady goings on with that company. Instead, I donate to the American Cancer Society (mainly because my sister used to work there and sends out emails occasionally making it so I only have to put in minimal effort to donate) or I donate to various MS foundations. I could understand if it was McDonald's or some other for profit corporation trying to maintain their income but you're a freaking charity, be charitable.
