Laura's Baking Talent: Corn Chowder

I would like to start out by thanking everyone that entered the Starbucks gift card contest. Congrats to Amy C., please check your email :) I would also like to celebrate because on Friday I reached my highest views ever. Love that are so many new followers of the blog.

So this blog post is being posted a little later in the day today because my parents came to visit. I ofcoarse had to bake lots of yummy treats for them to try. The recipes will be coming soon. However I have to tell you the best and worst idea to do before you have company come over. Rearrange the whole lower level of your house. Yes we did this yesterday afternoon.

We were feeling like we had too much furniture in the tv room and our dining area. So we switched up a couch for a chair, moved the table out, moved our tv from the center of the room to the corner... and switched tv stands. It was a lot of work.. especially for Jim who is basically a moving team of one. I am really good at pushing... and picking up for two steps and then needing a break We did get it all done though and it looks great. Once I got over the fact that the couches match but are not the same color in both of our living areas it actually gave us a LOT More open space. It looks so open I almost feel like we can get more furniture. Just kidding bad idea.

If you haven't moved your furniture in awhile... like 5 years for us. Then I highly suggest that you do it. Even if you don't get more space like we did... it will refresh your house. Its a great way to change things up and the best part is that its FREE. My mom and dad were checking out the changes and my mom wanted to go home and rearrange their house. My dad did not look as excited. I can't imagine why :)

The best part of the rearrange is that it opened up this really big wall in our dining area. I really want to make a cool chalkboard for the area. Totally my next craft project :)

So on to this weeks recipes. It is officially soup week. My good friend Lesa asked for soup week in the middle of the summer. I promised her I would do it... but I figured it would fit better in the fall. We are starting out with corn chowder. This recipe is really yummy and easy to make. Love the fresh taste of the seasonings and the unique taste of all the fresh vegetables.

Ingredients

1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 flour
4 Tbsp butter
1 large potato, diced into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 yellow onion, diced into 1/2 inch pieces
3/4 cup green pepper
3/4 cup red pepper
3/4 cup diced celery
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
2 cans (14.75 oz each) of cream style corn
1 1/2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
2 cups milk
2 tsp hot sauce
1 1/2 tsp mustard
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Start out by making the roux (fancy name for the stuff that thickens the soup). In a small saucepan over medium heat add the olive oil. Once the oil starts to heat up add the flour and mix it up until its smooth. Then remove it from the heat and set aside to use later.

In a large saucepan or dutch oven melt the butter over medium heat. Add the potatoes, onions, green and red peppers, celery and garlic. Saute them until they are tender, which should be about 5 minutes.

Add both cans of the cream corn, milk, and Old Bay Seasoning. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat and let simmer for a few minutes.

The next step is to slowly stir in the roux that you previously set aside. The texture should now be smooth and getting thicker. Add in the hot sauce, mustard, salt and pepper. Bring the whole mixture to a boil then reduce the heat and let it simmer for 15- 20 more minutes. Make sure that the potatoes are tender.

Serve and Enjoy!

This recipe was adapted from one by Chef Jeff Thomas of Lakeland Health.

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