Good Day for Soup!

We're finally getting a little taste of winter here so it's been a good week to try out some new soup recipes. Yesterday I made Cheese & Corn Chowder for a potluck at work and it received rave reviews from my co-workers. This recipe is a little different from most because it doesn't used canned cream style corn, but believe me, it was plenty creamy!

Photo from SoupAddict

Ingredients:

5 strips thick-sliced bacon

2 T butter

2 T EVOO

2 C diced onion

1 C diced celery

1/4 C all-purpose flour

2 t minced fresh thyme

1 t kosher salt

1/4 t cayenne pepper

1/4 t tumeric

6 C low-sodum chicken broth (I used turkey broth from the freezer)

1 lb russet potatoes, peeled and diced

8 ears fresh corn or 4-5 C frozen corn

1 C heavy cream (I used half and half and thought it was rich enough)

1 C shredded white Cheddar

2 oz cream cheese

Cook bacon in large soup pot on stove until crisp. Remove and drain on paper towel. Pour off bacon fat and wipe out the inside of the pot with another paper towel, then return to burner.

Melt butter with oil in same pot, add onion and celery and cook about 7-8 minutes until limp and translucent. Stir in flour, thyme, salt, cayenne and tumeric and cook 2 minutes. 

Add broth, potatoes and corn. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are tender. (After adding the potatoes and corn I put the soup in my crock pot and let it finish cooking there so I could transport it.)

Stir in cream cheddar, cream cheese and reserved bacon and simmer until cheese melts, about 5 minutes. (I put the cheeses in about half an hour before serving; then added the Half and Half about 10 minutes before). Don't let the chowder boil or it will curdle. 

The soup traveled well and I didn't bring any home with me--always a good sign! 

On the home front, the bathroom floor is done! DH and I (mostly DH) will be painting this weekend and hopefully everything will be wrapped up in another two weeks!