Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Unearthing Chowder

Yum!

I originally wrote this blog back in the middle of March, trying to be proactive (ha ha right, I know *sigh*). Unfortunately, it’s in a notebook at home and I am here at the day job, with nothing to do. (I’ve written myself into a quandary in Unearthing Magic, perhaps more on that later.) So what better way to amuse myself than to recreate my blog post, since I have the pictures already taken and ready for uploading. So may I present to you:

Corn Chowder: From Simple to Fancy

I know some of my readers may be going off to university soon, which means living on your own and, heaven forbid, having to cook for yourself. Now a person can live on ramen or pasta and sauce. And  they work great for the University student’s budget, but let me add another dish to your repitour (how in the world do you spell that?); Corn Chowder. Easy to make, and easy to impress the boys (or girls) with (as I did).

my favorite brands

The simplest version is three cans:
  • 1 can, Cream Style Corn (I tend to use white)
  • 1 can, Whole Kernel Corn, drained (I like the Fiesta because it adds a dash of color)
  • 1 can, Evaporated Milk (E-v-a-p-o-r-a-t-e-d... not to be confused with Condensed with will give you a very, very sweet chowder)
  1. Open the three cans. Be sure to shake the Evaporated Milk and drain the whole kernel corn.
  2. Dump all three cans into one smallish sized pot
  3. Heat until it just starts to bubble.
  4. Serve and Eat!

Now, say you’ve got a family to feed now, but still want to fall back on a simple meal (and you’re tired of spaghetti and sauce), you can still make this dish, but add a few extra things to make it go further and fill up rumbling bellies.
 
(ham, peppers and onions not shown, sorry)
Before heating add:
  • 1 can, diced potatoes, drained
  • 1 pkg, diced ham ~8 oz (found in the meat isle)
  • 1 cup, frozen, chopped, peppers and onions

And now I’ve got the fanciest version, that I’ll feature here. Use the ingredients above but:

Substitute:
  • 3 to 5 slices of cooked and crumbled bacon for the ham cubes
  • Fresh chopped peppers and onions for the frozen
Add:
  • Dash of dill and white pepper to taste added at anytime
  • 1 cup of shredded cheese of your preference
  1. Add these cheese at the end (when the soup bubbles), otherwise it will melt in clumps rather than adding a smooth cheesy flavor to the whole thing. The other key is to stir it well.
  2. Serve the Chowder with rolls (Pillsbury buttermilk –American- biscuits are what I like to use).
Now if only Unearthing Magic would be as easy to edit. Instead it’s thinking about rearranging itself as I delve deeper into my Antagonist’s motivations. That and my added perspective, doesn’t seem to know what route it wants to take to get to the end. Hopefully my fellow writers aren’t having such issues. *grins*

 
:} Cathryn Leigh

P.S. Us New Englanders call this dish Cohn Chowdah. ;-}