3000 miles 'til dinner.

Original MIL Mission #68: Corn & Potato Chowder

And… I’m back! Three months into new motherhood, and I think I’m getting the hang of everything and able to do more during the day. Which means cooking. I haven’t totally been MIA from the kitchen, but I’ve been depending on lots of easy, tried and true recipes that I can make quickly while my daughter Maelle is napping or busying herself in her crib. Which usually means I can get away for 20 - 30 minutes. The rest of the time includes me carrying Maelle while cooking one-handed. Thus the need for easy-peasy recipes!

And corn & potato chowder falls under this category. Chowder is great comfort food on a cold evening, and yes… it does get chilly in LA from time to time. So I decided to make the chowder on one of these said chilly nights, which means a shivering 45 degrees!

♥HOW I MADE IT.♥

Here are the ingredients. 

And is that REAL bacon you spy? Why, yes it is! The hubby and I have slowly been re-incorporating pork into our diet. We don’t do it much but we also want to expand our culinary adventures to include the pig variety. As long as it’s the good stuff.

Here is said pig meat frying in the the pot.

Once the bacon was nice and crispy, I transferred it to some paper towels to drain. Real bacon bits!

Next, I added the butter, potatoes and onions to the bacon fat. Whew!! Still having trouble processing working with pork, but I’m sure it will be delicious.

And then I added the corn, chicken stock, jalapeño and spices, brought to a boil, and let simmer.

After a bit, I added the evaporated milk and although it didn’t say so in the recipe, I added the bacon bits back into the soup. Why waste all that crunchy stuff when I had come this far?

Then I simmered the soup to let the flavors combine.

♥MIL MISSION #68: ACCOMPLISHED.♥

Yum! Look at all that chunky, creamy goodness. This chowder totally hit the spot. The hubby loved it and said the potatoes were cooked perfectly! I have to credit Maelle, who was cooking right alongside with me, for making this dish so yummy. And who doesn’t like corn and potatoes… and now, bacon!!  I didn’t have any parsley, green onion or cilantro on hand, so I ended up garnishing the chowder with some chopped dill because doesn’t dill go well with potatoes?

Per MIL’s suggestion, I also made some beer bread to serve with the chowder. And I have to admit, I’m proud of this loaf since my first attempt didn’t turn out as fluffy (although still delicious). Look at how beautiful the bread turned out!

Overall, the meal was delicious and satisfying… and relatively easy to make with baby in tow!

♥PLATE IT, ATE IT, GRADED IT.♥

scale: 0 (not at all) to 5 (very)

Cupboard to table time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Difficulty: 1

Deliciousness: 5

Impressed Husband factor: 5 

Leftover-friendly: 5