I HEART...Corn Chowder with Chicken

Everybody loves Wednesday, right?

The week's half over.  The weekend is on the way.

What's not to love?

Each Wednesday, I want to share something with you

that I absolutely love and can't live without!

I haven't written an "I HEART" post in forever, but after supper last night, I knew I needed to! We've already established the fact I love soup. I blogged about several of my favorite over the winter like split pea soup with ham croutons, homemade broccoli and cheese soup, sausage and kale soup, as well as others. But soups aren't just for cold weather. Sometimes I just want something a little lighter.

Tuesdays are usually absolute bedlam around here. Jewell helps teach a dance class for toddlers at 1:30, then has two more of her own (one at 3:45 and one at 6:30). Brack has TKD at 6:45. Of course Jewell can't drive yet, so I have the honor of chauffeuring her around! Add to that housework and the fact that we've completed a full day of school before noon, and well, you get the idea. Usually we get a burger since Gerald is not home in time for us to eat together in the one hour between classes.

Today was different. Gerald had been out of town on business and got home early, so he picked Jewell up so I could get dinner cooked. I had half a rotisserie chicken in the fridge. I trolled around Pinterest and found a few ideas and came up with the idea for "Corn Chowder with Chicken". You'll notice the corn comes first...you'll soon see why.

I took four (or five) slices of bacon and cut it into pieces.

I started them in a cold Dutch oven. No extra oil needed.

Meanwhile, I had bought red onions this week for something else I'm making later, so that's what I went with. You could use a sweet onion.

Dice.

Keep stirring the bacon around. It will separate as it cooks.

When it was beginning to get crispy, I removed about two tablespoons of bacon grease, leaving about two in the Dutch oven.

Add onions and saute until they begin to get tender.

I chopped three cloves of garlic - about 2 tablespoons worth.

Add the garlic and two heaping tablespoons flour. Stir well to coat the onions and bacon with flour.

Cook for about a minute to cook off the raw flour taste.

Add one can of chicken broth.

Whisk well to get rid of any lumps.

Add four cups milk. (We drink 1% so that's what I used.) Keep whisking to make sure there are no lumps left.

  

While the bacon and onions were cooking, I cut the kernels off three ears of fresh corn.

Drop the corn cobs and two sprigs of thyme in the chowder. I have three (or four?) different thymes in my herb garden because it's one of my favorites. I used German thyme today. 

Allow the chowder to come to a low boil. Reduce to simmer for 15 minutes. Stir often to keep bottom from sticking.

I covered it but left it cracked.

After 15 minutes, remove the corn cobs.

And the thyme.

Add corn.

And chicken.

And salt and pepper to taste. I like lots of pepper.

Stir and allow it to simmer for about another 15 minutes.

I served it with a bagged Caesar salad and bread sticks from Walmart's deli. I sprinkled a little grated Parmesan cheese on top.

It was filling, but not heavy! The corn still had a fresh taste and retained it's crunch. Simmering it with the corn cobs really boosted the corn flavor. That's why I put corn before chicken in the name! Jewell had two bowls. Luckily, we have enough for me and her to have for lunch tomorrow!

I'm so glad you stopped by my neck of the woods!

Please take a moment to sign up to receive new posts by email.

I wouldn't want you to miss one crazy thing...

I HEART...Homemade Broccoli and Cheese Soup

Gerald stayed home last Thursday to attend an online CLE course. So he was home - but he was working. It was our last day of homeschool before the holidays, and it was a wet, rainy day. I knew I wanted to make a warm, comforting soup for lunch.

I had picked up a head of broccoli on sale earlier in the week, so I decided to make broccoli cheese soup. I know now why it was on sale. As soon as I cut into it, I saw it was going bad. No way to save it. I had already started my soup, so I was getting ready to run to the store for more broccoli when I remembered my mother had told me she had broccoli that should be ready soon in her fall garden. I took a chance and ran over there...in the rain!...and here is a picture of my reward - 

Y'all - this head of broccoli was as big as MY head! I'm not kidding! Isn't it pretty? Storebought broccoli can't even touch the taste and texture of homegrown.

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

one head of broccoli, cut up and washed

half an onion, diced

two julienned carrots

EVOO

1/2 stick butter

1/4 cup flour

one 14 oz can chicken broth

one cup heavy cream

one cup milk (I used 1%)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

pinch of nutmeg

2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

Begin by sauteing the onion in a skillet with a tablespoon of EVOO. Remove from heat. While the onions were cooking, I chopped my broccoli and julienned my carrots. I just tossed them in on top of the cooked onions to avoid getting out another bowl.

TIP - This is a cream soup that you blend, so be sure to cut up some of the broccoli stem under the florets. It will soften as it cooks and it has great flavor!

Melt butter in a dutch oven or large pot. Add flour and whisk in until mixed.

Cook for about 3-4 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly. Don't let it get really dark.

Add chicken broth, cream, milk and veggies. Stir well and bring to a simmer.

Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Use an immersion blender to pulse until mostly smooth. (I do like to leave a few larger pieces.) If you don't have an immersion blender, use a regular blender. Be careful! the mixture is hot and will expand.

Add grated cheddar and mix until smooth.

Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

This is sooooooo yummy.

Tomorrow I'll give you the recipe for the baked ham and cheese pastries. They make for great dipping!

I had somewhere to go that night, and Gerald and the kids grabbed a burger before TKD, so I sent the leftovers to my parents. I figured they deserved it. They did, after all, grow the beautiful broccoli which was the star of the dish! 

We haven't had a lot of cool weather yet, but all the rainy days have made me hungry for soup! I've pulled out my favorite soup recipes and I'll be sharing them with you over the next few weeks.

I'm so glad you stopped by my neck of the woods!

Please take a moment to sign up to receive new posts by email.

I wouldn't want you to miss one crazy thing...

Holiday Poundcake

Everybody loves Wednesday, right?

The week's half over.  The weekend is on the way.

What's not to love?

Each Wednesday, I want to share something with you

that I absolutely love and can't live without!

My book club got together last week. We had last met back in late February and discussed the book "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society" by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer. It was about a group of people who survive the hardships of World War II by developing a book club of sorts. They met regularly and each member reported back on the book they have been reading. It was a wonderful book, and we thought that having a "free book" meeting might be fun. So we decided at the next meeting, we'd each share a book that we have read that we really enjoyed and had an impact on us. Everyone shared their selections in simple two minute summaries. (No spoilers!)

My cohort, Nancy, provided her home. Everyone else brought a finger food, and I provided dessert. Today I'll share with you the recipe for the delicious cake I made. I'll give you the list of books that were recommended in another post soon.

I love poundcake. I have a basic sour cream poundcake recipe that is my go to dessert. It serves a million and is always delicious. However - last week, I saw a recipe on Facebook that looked great, but then I couldn't locate it again. I remembered it was called Christmas Poundcake, so I looked for it on Pinterest...and found a dozen different ones! So - I combined three recipes (all the things I liked about each one) and came up with what I'm calling Holiday Poundcake. It.Was.Divine!

Holiday Poundcake

For the cake

1 1/2 cups plus 3 tbsp cake flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 cup fresh cranberries

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1 stick of butter, at room temp

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 block light cream cheese
2 tbsp light sour cream
1 tbsp half and half
zest of one orange
juice from half an orange
2 tbsp browned butter

For the frosting
1/2 stick butter, softened
1/2 block light cream cheese
juice from half an orange
"enough" powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9"x5"x3" loaf pan. Set aside.

Combine cake flour, baking powder and salt. Sift three times. Set aside.

Whisk egg and vanilla by hand. Set aside.

Mix butter on medium speed until creamy. Add sugar and continue beating until mixed and creamy. Add cream cheese, sour cream and half and half. Combine well.

Turn mixer to low and alternately add flour and egg mixtures, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Do not over beat.

Rinse cranberries and discard any that are shriveled.

Toss white chocolate chips in flour to coat. This keeps the chips from sinking.

Gently fold in cranberries and chips. Again - do not over mix.

Note - I forgot to add my orange zest earlier, so I added it after the berries and chocolate. Really, it should be added while the batter is being mixed.

While making batter, melt butter over low heat until slightly browned.

Spoon batter into the greased pan and smooth. Hit it on the counter a couple of times to remove air bubbles. Finally, pour the brown butter on top and tilt pan to swirl butter to cover entire top of batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half or until a toothpick comes out clean. The butter will cause the cake to brown more deeply, so I had to cover it about an hour in and then uncover at the end. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then turn it out to cool completely.

Once the cake is cooled, mix up the icing, adding enough powdered sugar to get the right consistency. (Mix everything but the powdered sugar and then add sugar until it looks and feels right.)

Drizzle glaze on top.

I had extra glaze so I put it in a bowl to serve on the side. I also made a batch of cookies in case someone didn't like cranberries. I had picked up a pouch of Betty Crocker cookie mix. It is a "limited edition" flavor for the holidays called Salted Caramels. They tast like a caramel sugar cookie. Really yummy. Placed in a crystal biscuit barrel, they were elegant and delicious! 

This cake was delicious! It was so moist on the inside and crusty on the outside. The fresh cranberries were such a nice surprise against the rich chocolate chips. In fact - Brack told me to double the cranberries next time! He had begged for a piece before I left, but it wasn't cool yet, so I told him I'd save him a piece or two. I did, but it was hard!

This cake will definitely make it into the rotation again soon. In fact, if I end up getting everything done for tomorrow soon, I may make one tonight!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm so glad you stopped by my neck of the woods!

Please take a moment to sign up to receive new posts by email.

I wouldn't want you to miss one crazy thing...