Somewhat Creamless Corn Chowder

I didn't have any fresh corn on the cob on me as that season was well done with when I came across this recipe. I did, however, have corn off the cob in the freezer. This did cause a problem as I didn't have enough corn to puree and put in the soup. Therefore, I did have to turn to a cream, cream of cheddar soup. I gave the husband the choice of  cream of celery or cream of cheddar, he picked cheddar as he doesn't like celery. It surprises how many people don't like celery. I wanted to use the celery as I thought the cheddar was just weird and it smelled weird when it was cooking. I'm not sure is using this cream is any healthier then using like heavy cream (which would make sooo good) or half and half. There's still salt, sugar, fat and other stuff.

oh look at that bacon goodness

The cream of cheddar did mellow out when I added the can of milk to it.  We ended up liking it. It's soup and you really can't go wrong with soup. I like soup a lot, specially the creamed based ones like potato or corn chowder. You can usually get by using whatever leftovers you have and throwing it into a soup. Maybe I'll do an entry about soup.  Starting using up those end of the season produce and make some soup or stir-fry. Have you ever garnished your plate with green onion? It gives it a nice freshness and the onion is not overpowering. It's one of my favorite standbys to add color to the plate.

2 cups frozen corn
1 large onion, peeled and sliced very thick
½ red bell pepper, stemmed and seeded
1 pound new potatoes, halved
1½ Tbs. olive oil
Salt and ground black pepper
4 slices bacon, chopped
1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 quart chicken broth
1 can cream of cheddar
1 can milk
Green onion to garnish

We did the short cut to this recipe and used the frozen corn and the cream of cheddar soup as I didn't have the puree. I fried up the bacon and then added the vegetables and saute until tender. I used a green pepper. The recipe says red, but I didn't have a red did I? I then added the chicken broth and corn and simmered until all the veggies where done 12-15 minutes. To see if the potatoes are done, stab a fork in them and if they go through and kind of break then they are done.
Orignal Recipe