Corn Chowder Soup

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving,
but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day
worth living."
F. Scott Fitzgerald 

Corn Chowder Soup

recipe adapted from Cuisine at home magazine September/ October issue 2012

Serves 6-8

Cook's notes: What really caught my attention for this recipe was not so much the ingredients but what I call "a brilliant execution" of getting the corn off the cob! Something I would have never thought of but really such a simple idea. The problem I had with photo below is I did not have anyone around to take picture while I showed "the how to" So do your best imagining as I describe. 

Place cob in center of bundt pan funnel. Hold onto the cob firmly with one hand and with other hand use a knife to pare kernels off.  Once the kernels are in the bundt pan can easily be poured into soup mixture.

Ingredients:

• 3 strips of bacon
• 8 ears of fresh corn or one bag of frozen corn (do not cook corn ahead of time)
• 1 onion diced
• 2 tsp. minced garlic
• 1/3 cup flour
• 3 cups half and half (use fat free to reduce calories)
• 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1 jar of roasted red peppers or chopped green pepper
• 1 large carrot diced
• 1 cup finely diced celery 
• 1 large potato (Yukon Gold) peeled and cubed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
• 1/2 tsp. thyme 
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Directions:

• In a fry pan cook 3 pieces of bacon and set bacon aside
• Drain some of the bacon fat down to 2 TB. then saute onion, garlic, celery, potato, carrot in 2 TB. bacon fat for about 15 minutes
• Add to onion/carrot/celery/ potato mixture the corn, bay leaf, thyme, mustard and chicken broth, cover and simmer about 20 minutes till potato and carrot are done   
• Whisk flour into half and half and add that to corn/broth mixture, mixing well
• Place 1/3 of the mixture in a blender to puree and then add back to saucepan with rest of soup and continue cooking adding in shredded cheese
• Cook on low heat uncovered till soup thickens
• Remove bay leaf before serving :)

Serving Suggestions: 

• Add crumbled bacon to soup right before serving
• Serve with Blueberry Muffins and fresh fruit

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Pumpkin Update: Recently I consulted a reliable source, a man who grows pumpkins, and he said "the time had come." The stem was black and it was not going to grow anymore. But what really spurred me into action was when he inquired if I was having trouble with deer getting into the pumpkins. Fear crept over me! I couldn't get home fast enough. Those dreaded deer show no mercy to gardeners. I took one last picture. The pumpkin is now being stored in a cool dry location. 

I do have another one coming along nicely and posted picture on right. 

Can you imagine some of my friends thought I had staged this picture!!!!