Karen Lynn’s Mostly Mushroom, Bacon & Corn Chowder

Sigh…January…a lot of the country is covered under snow and ice and i see lots of photos on Facebook of my friends who are literally “snowed in” many of them are baking bread, playing with their kids and pets, and even reading, painting, and organizing.  I know a lot of you are watching the football game right now and we are gearing up to watch the big Panthers game who I hope so much they make it to the “Super Bowl”!    In honor of this game I made one of my favorite chowders….it’s a classic comfort food!  We are getting ready to sit on the sofa and enjoy some football and some chowder; it’s fabulous paired with a big salad or a baguette!   Let’s face it bacon and football go together like peanutbutter and jelly!  LOL!  If you are not watching football well I hope you are having an enjoyable Sunday no matter what you are up too!  

This is a delicious soup recipe I make all the time and truthfully I should have shared a while ago with all of you. I’m usually like….”Just hand me the whole pot and a spoon!”…LOL!  It has some redeeming qualities besides it tastes absolutely fantastic.  It’s relatively not a super “fatty” recipe considering it’s a cream based soup so that’s nice.  It’s also gluten-free so I think this will be a winner with my gluten-free friends and it has a ton of mushrooms in it!  I love mushrooms and if you do too this will become a favorite I promise you!

With this recipe you literally toss everything but the bacon in the soup right away so it’s so easy!  As you know…I love easy!

Ingredients:

• 2 Boxes Low Sodium Chicken Broth  or place your frozen or canned chicken broth in the pot should be 16 oz. each
• 1 – 2 TBSP. thyme (this is the secret to the success of this recipe)
• 1/2 to 1 onion diced finely this depends on how much you like onion
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 TBSP. butter
• 2 cans of evaporated milk
• 3 packs of mushrooms (1 pack of button, 1 pack of Portobello, and 1 pack of gourmet mix)  (This is your soup recipe do it how you want)
• 1 lb. of bacon fried crisp
• 6-8 red potatoes chopped with skins left on
• 1 1/2 cup of dehydrated corn

 Instructions:

• You need a large pot and a cast iron skillet
• Fry up the pound of bacon in the cast iron pan
• Pour chicken broth or place your homemade chicken broth in the the pot
• Toss in the butter
• Pour in the evaporated milk
• Pour in the dehydrated corn
• Chop up mushrooms and potatoes and put in pot
• Add the onions
• Crumble up the fried bacon and place in pot
• salt and pepper to taste
• Add tabasco sauce to taste ( I like a lil’ heat!)
• Cook until potatoes and corn are tender – YUM!

You can play around with this recipe a lot!  You could add chopped peppers for some nice color and a little bit of flavor…I didn’t have any and you all know I’m all about using what I have on hand.  I also like this recipe because you could use dehydrated bacon, potatoes, and mushrooms as well – very versatile!

This recipe makes a lot I always like to make a big batch of soup so I can pack it for lunches for the week too!  It’s perfect because I pack a cup of soup and pair it with a piece of fruit and it’s the perfect lunch.    I am not a big fan of the grocery store canned soup I don’t like how processed they are and how chemical laden they taste.  There is something about using fresh ingredients from the grocery store or even fresh thyme from your garden – this wasn’t though it was dried french thyme.  Thyme is the secret I promise without it this recipe won’t receive the rave reviews and trust me it will!

I hope you all love this “comfort food” winter soup as much as we do!  The Viking and my son request this soup all the time!  Last night we served it up with cheesy toast points!

Fondly,