Corn Chowder-Lame title, good soup

I went to TWO farmer's markets last week! Look at me, supporting local stuff. I like being able to get produce that is so fresh and sometimes organic. The knowledge that they'll only be around for several more weeks makes me sad. I feel like we got shorted on summer a little bit this year (I wonder where I can send my complaint form.)

At the first market, on Thursday, my big purchase was a box of peaches, which I managed (with help from my sis) to can yesterday. They are awesome peaches, which is good because it made 10 quarts.

At the market on Friday I got corn. Awesome corn. Its grown organically by a farm that is owned by a friend of mine from high school. She doesn't usually come to our market but her truck broke down on the way to one on Thursday and she had to get the produce to a market, so we lucked out and got her!

On a side note, organic corn on the cob is not for the faint of stomach, or more specifically, those afraid of worms. Luckily for me, I'm not really bothered by them. They're just little caterpillar looking guys and we even got a big green one that my daughter was very excited about. It lead to a conversation that went like this:

Her: Mom, do you like caterpillars?
Me: Yep
Her: Do you like daddy caterpillars?
Me: Yep
Her: Do you like mommy caterpillars?
Me: Yep
Her: Do you like baby caterpillars?
Me:...

OK, back to the subject. So what does one do with 10 ears of corn (besides eat 4 of them for dinner the night we got them)?

You make Corn Chowder! Duh
Its so easy and so yummy. I barely even messed up my kitchen. In fact, I COULD have cleaned up the little mess I made while the potatoes were cooking and had a clean kitchen by the time we sat down for dinner. It didn't happen, I had important things to do, like check facebook or something, but in theory I could have.

This chowder has so much flavor for a soup that took under an hour to make. I'm pretty sure the key is making it in my big, green cast iron pot. I love meals that you just keep tossing ingredients into one pot.

Definitely serve this with a big, crusty/chewy piece of sourdough bread.

Oh yea! I almost forgot. I added this all up and there are only about 200 calories a serving. SCORE!

Corn Chowder

6 slices turkey bacon, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

6 ears of corn, kernels stripped from the cob

2-3 large yellow flesh potatoes, cubed

2 cups half and half

1 cup fat free milk

Seasoning salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Ground red pepper to taste

Makes 8 servings

1. Saute onion and bacon together in a large, cast iron pot. This only works if you use pre-cooked turkey bacon. If you use regular bacon, you'll have to do cook these separately.

2. When the bacon is cooked through and the onion is softened, add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant.

3. Add the corn and saute for a couple minutes until everything has mixed together. Make sure and scrape up that browned goodness on the bottom of the pan. 

4. Dump in your potatoes, milk and half and half and give it all a good stir.

5. Add the seasonings to taste and let the chowder simmer until the potatoes have softened completely and start to fall apart. I even took my potato masher to it just to speed up the thickening process. The chowder should have a thicker consistency.

6. Serve immediately with crusty french bread or sourdough.