Corn Chowder

Usually our dinners are centered around being healthy and cheap. I would like to say this is my specialty. Some may say it's impossible to have both but I usually find a way. This is even more important now that food prices have risen so high recently. I was just reading that children from homes suffering from poverty are more and more obese because their parents can't afford to eat healthy...very true. OFTEN it is more expensive to eat healthy (ex. skin-on chicken is much cheaper than skinless chicken which is much healthier) but there are some choices you can make that make a big difference. That was an odd rant leading into the thought that this is not one of those healthy choices...although it is cheap. For some reason I have to say that I am very good at making soups or chowders, it comes natural to me :) This is one of those recipes that I have made and evolved over a couple of years. I have never had a Corn Chowder outside my home so I am not sure if this is what others would taste like...but it is very yummy and a comfort food. I would consider his a semi-healthy meal that I always serve with cornbread muffins. This recipe makes one large pot of soup. We eat it for dinner...eat some leftovers for lunch and then freeze the rest for another dinner in a few weeks. If you freeze it make sure that you de-frost it in the fridge overnight. If you de-frost it other ways it will break down the potatoes.

INGREDIENTS:

4 Strips of bacon

1/2 Onion, chopped

4 Potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes

4 Cups of milk (or cream if your willing to risk the calories)
2 (11 oz) Can of cream style corn
1 Cup of frozen corn

2 Chicken breasts, boiled and cut into bite size pieces

3 Cubes chicken bouillon

3/4 Teas. Oregano

1 Teas. each of Pepper, Onion Salt, Garlic Powder

1 Tabl. corn starch

1) In a large pot over medium heat, cook the bacon until crisp. Drain off grease, leaving about 3 tabl in the pot. Place bacon aside.

2) Place onion in the pot and cook until translucent. Mix in the potatoes and cook until lightly browned on the outside. Stir in 2 cups of milk, 2 cups of water and 3 cubes of bouillon. Season with spices. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes or until potatoes are soft, stirring occasionally.

3)Pour in cream corn and whole frozen corn, crumble in bacon (or reserve for topping I like it crispy still and if you put it in the soup it will get chewy again) and add chicken. Continue to cook for 10 additional minutes.

4) Raise heat and stir in 1 cup of milk that has 1 tabl corn starch whipped in, until thickened.

Serve with cornbread. (I like to just use Betty Crockers packaged cornbread mix. I add a good amount of honey and some corn meal...almost as good as my mom's!)