Corn and Potato Chowder.

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.