Corn Chowder

So far I've been two-for-two since I've started this blog. Two-for-two? Yes, the two meals that I have made for my husband have both been successes and in his words, "8 out of 10's." I need to keep this up but its is nearing the end of the pay period and I must find things around the house to cook with. 

My son is one and I've been stuffing him full of vegetables while I can, so we normally have lots of canned vegetables around the house. I knew we had at least two cans of corn in the pantry but you can't make a whole dinner around corn; alas! You can! (As a disclaimer, I'm sure there are millions of dinners you can make around corn, but with my minuscule cooking abilities, I didn't know any.) Corn chowder popped into my head and it did sound quite good and filling. I Googled some recipes and got a good idea of how I was going to make my own version. I find it so hard to copy recipes exactly from cookbooks or the internet because I cook for two and a lot of recipes are made for eight or ten or more. I have experimented with halving the ingredients then halving them again, in some cases, but the end product never comes out right, hence my awful record of being a cook. Below is the recipe. My husband, by the way, gave it a solid eight :D.

Corn Chowder

2 cans corn

3 strips bacon

1 garlic clove

1 cup buttermilk

1 onion

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp flour

2 cup chicken stock (I used bullion cubes)

3-4 sprigs fresh thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

Shredded cheddar cheese to top, if you please :)

Heat a large soup pot on the stove over medium-high heat. add olive oil and allow to heat with the pan. In the meantime, slice bacon into small strips, dice onion into a small dice, and chop the garlic. Once the pan is heated thoroughly, add in the bacon, onion, garlic, and the stripped thyme leaves from the stems.

This is how it looks before cooking.

Cook, stirring ever so often, for about 10 minutes until the bacon is crispy, onion is soft and the mixture looks like this...

When your mixture gets to this stage, sprinkle in the flour and combine. Add in your chicken broth and bring to a boil. When the mixture comes to a boil, add the buttermilk, corn, salt and pepper. Scrape the bottom of the pan to bring up the crispy bits on the bottom. Simmer the soup on low heat for 10-15 minutes. Serve with cheese atop, if you prefer. I think the soup may have needed a slight kick. I would try adding heavy cream in place of the buttermilk or maybe a bit more thyme. Perhaps sauteing carrot along with the garlic and onion would also help. Who knows; if you do find something that works, please let me know! This would also be so good with some rotisserie chicken mixed in for added protein.

Don't eat that thyme sprig.
Just added it to make it
 look pretty for y'all!

Enjoy! And Happy Friday!