Sweet Potato & Corn Chowder

 

The other night I had barely anything in my cupboards.  I mean, seriously, hardly anything.  A few canned goods, yes, and dry beans, and some potatoes.   Not enough time for chili, and since I was in the mood for soup, frozen veggies and rice were not going to cut it.

I will just say here that there is a HUGE plus side to meal planning: you save money buying only what you need (and don't snack as much).  The downside is when you forget that Monday is part of your meal plan now that you do grocery shopping on Tuesday.  Sigh.

So I rummaged through my freezer and found a bag of corn amid some frozen rolls and broccoli.  And inspiration hit.  A potato and corn chowder!  I figured since I wasn't really going off a recipe that I needed to be prepared for a flop, but we were all nicely surprised when we took our first bite!  While simple, the flavors were blended just right and we both had seconds.

I served this with the last bit of salad we had, and Scot was wonderful and ran by our favorite bakery to pick up some black pepper foccacia bread for me.  Can we say YUM?!  Hope you enjoy!

Sweet Potato & Corn Chowder

Serves 4-6  10 cups

Active time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 20-30 minutes

Total time: 50 minutes

Serving suggestions:  Serve this with some black pepper foccacia bread and a garden salad.

What You'll Need

• 1 TBLS olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 TBLS minced garlic
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 5 cups peeled and diced potatoes (half sweet potatoes and half regular/Idaho)  
• 1 1/2 cups shredded (or finely chopped) carrots
• 2 cups frozen corn OR a can of corn, drained
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 cup almond milk OR regular milk
• ½ tsp pepper
• salt to taste
• cayenne pepper (optional and to taste)
  
  

What You'll Do

• In a large pot, saute the onion and garlic about 5 minutes until soft and translucent.
• Add the broth, potatoes, carrots, corn, and thyme.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes until the potatoes are completely soft.
• Transfer almost half of the soup to a blender and blend until almost smooth.  Transfer back to the pot.  Alternatively, if you have a hand blender you can use that to just get some of it blended to "cream it up".  If you have neither blender nor hand blender, use a potato masher to get the consistency you want.
• Stir in milk and add salt, pepper, and cayenne if using.
• Heat through and enjoy!

Time tip: Nuke potatoes a little (6-7 minutes) to speed up the simmering process

Nutrition Facts (per serving, 1/4 of recipe):

Calories 299 (Calories from fat 43); Total Fat 5g (Saturated 1g); Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 671mg; Potassium 1032mg; Total Carbohydrate 61g (Dietary Fiber 7g); Sugars 13g; Protein 7g; Vitamins/Minerals - Vitamin A xxx IU; Vitamin C 19329mg; Calcium 71mg; Iron 2mg; Folate 63mcg