Potato Corn Soup

I have been yearning for some potato corn soup ever since D's friend's mom told me she made some in her slow cooker and that was about a month ago. She is having her kitchen remodeled so she was without a stove for quite some time. That's why she made her soup in her slow cooker. I am not (unfortunately) having my kitchen remodeled so I made this soup on the stove. I think it is a Paula Deen recipe but I can't be sure. It definitely comes from the http://www.foodnetwork.com/ website. The original recipe added shrimp but I found another version with less butter and no shrimp on the http://www.howtoeatacupcake.net/ website. I (of course) did some of my own adjustments to the recipe. Feel free to use the recipe "as is" or make the changes that I made. I used no sodium chicken bouillon, skim milk and fat free half & half rather than regular bouillon cubes, 1% milk and regular half and half. Even if you used the originally called for ingredients this soup wouldn't be that bad for you. Paula's original recipe called for cooking 6 slices of bacon and crumbling them. I cooked the bacon and chopped it rather than buying bacon bits. I use the oven method when I make bacon because it is less messy and much easier than frying the bacon. I put it in the oven on a cookie sheet that is lined with a grill such as the type you would use to cook a roast or chicken. The bacon comes out great. It will be flat and not all twisted up like when you fry it. I was lucky to have D help me cube the potatoes and chop the carrots. He did a great job even though he had a bruised pinkie finger.

I don't eat seafood so I substituted some diced precooked chicken instead of using shrimp. This addition turned the soup into a meal in a bowl!

Potato Corn Soup

Serves 8-10

1/2 stick butter

1 small onion, diced

2 medium carrots, diced about the same size as the onion

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

8 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cubed

4 cups 1% milk

1 cup half-and-half

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 cans whole kernel corn (I used frozen)

crumbled bacon bits, for garnish

grated sharp Cheddar, for garnish

In a 4-quart saucepan, melt the butter and saute the onion and carrots until both are slightly tender, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the potatoes, milk and dissolved bouillon cubes. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, until the potatoes are soft and some of them have begun to dissolve into mush. Add the half-and-half, salt, pepper and corn. Return the soup to a boil, then remove from heat. Serve soup sprinkled with bacon bits and grated cheese.

This soup is another new family favorite for us. Please try it and let me know how you like it.

Enjoy!

The Creative Cook