Grilled Corn and Potato Chowder

You all really need to try this soup!

It is so delicious, and really isn't bad for ya!

My wonderful mother-in-law sends my husband and I occasional goodie boxes! Most of the time, she is sending us weeks worth of coupons, but she never just sends the coupons. There is always some little "goodie" in the package! The last one she loaded down with tons of magazines for my reading pleasure. One of them was the September issue of Cooking Light. I was so excited to look through it, and sure enough I was dog-earing about every other recipe! I came across this recipe for Grilled Corn and Potato Chowder, and I knew I had to make it right away. With the seasons starting to change and the chill of fall starting to make its presence in the air, I knew this soup would be perfect!

I think my favorite thing about this soup was the fact that you take a portion of the corn and process it in a food processor. It acts as the thickening for the soup and also makes the soup "creamy". This way you don't have to use all that heavy cream that normally goes into a soup like this. The original recipe actually does call for a 1/2 cup of half and half, but I just used more skim milk instead.

I do hope you will give it a try, it was so delicious! I actually made a double batch so I could stick some of it in my deep freezer for another rainy cold fall day down the road! God bless my deep freezer!! :o)

Grilled Corn and Potato Chowder

(adapted only slightly from Cooking Light)

1 pound small red potatoes, quartered
1 tablespoon salt, divided
3 tablespoons softened butter, divided
4 ears shucked corn
Cooking spray
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
3 1/2 cups skim milk
2 thyme sprigs
3 tablespoons finely chopped chives
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

dash of garlic salt

Preheat grill to medium-high heat.

Place a grill basket on grill.

Place potatoes and 2 teaspoons salt in a saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Let potatoes stand in hot water 5 minutes. Drain; cut into 1/4-inch cubes.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter; brush evenly over corn. Place corn on grill rack coated with cooking spray. Place potatoes in grill basket coated with cooking spray. Grill corn and potatoes 15 minutes or until slightly charred, turning occasionally. Cool corn slightly; cut kernels from cobs. Place 1 cup corn kernels in a food processor; process until smooth.

Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining 1 teaspoon salt and red pepper; cook for 30 seconds, stirring frequently. Stir in potatoes, remaining corn kernels, pureed corn, milk, half-and-half, and thyme sprigs; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat; simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Discard thyme sprigs. Stir in chives and remaining ingredients.

Here is the nutritional information from the magazine, although I am guessing the fat was lower (maybe even the calories) from not using any half and half.

Calories: 268
Fat: 12.3g (sat 6.6g,mono 2.2g,poly 0.4g)
Protein: 9.9g
Carbohydrate: 33.8g
Fiber: 3.1g
Cholesterol: 32mg
Iron: 1mg
Sodium: 599mg
Calcium:214mg

Creamy Tomato Basil Italian Sausage Soup

I love soup. To me it's really one of those foods that always hits the spot and never lets me down. It's is especially tasty on those cloudy, rainy days when there is a slight chill in the air. Nashville has been kinda dreary lately too. You never know how our spring season is going to start...but lately it's been sunny and mid 70s one day and then rainy, dismal and in the 30-40s the next day! YIKES! That's why us Nashvillians ALWAYS get sick this time of year!!! LOL

So the other day, when we were having one of our dark-dismal-rainy days, I decided to check out my Google Reader and see what I had marked as "must makes" in the soup department. I recently had seen this recipe from Picky Palate and remembered how easy and delicious it sounded. I also knew that it called for ingredients that I just happened to have on hand.

One important note: I have a deep freezer (A.K.A. MY BEST FRIEND! sorry Jenn :o) ) and a fully stocked pantry. Yes my friends, these items are the best thing that anyone who loves to cook must have. I love being able to walk out to my freezer and get italian sausage or ground beef or whatever. Not having to run to the store is a God send ... especially on those dark-dismal-rainy days!! So I must share with you one staple that always seems to come in handy. We are all guilty of short cuts. There is always that day when making something COMPLETELY homemade just isn't going to cut it! For me ... I must always keep on hand a jar of Traditional flavored Ragu! Now I must admit, I make my pasta sauce 100% homemade and when it comes to spaghetti I must use my homemade stuff (and that is why I have a deep freezer - seriously you should see all the sauce and jam and soup and meat and everything I have in there! LOL), but I can't tell you the number of times I have been happy that the Ragu was sitting in my pantry! There are a lot of recipes out there where having a jar of sauce on hand is very helpful. I could probably go on and on about freezer/pantry staples, but why would I want to continue to bore you when what you really want to hear about it the Creamy Tomato Basil Italian Soup!!!

This soup was so tasty. It really hit the spot and it was so filling. I tried to make mine less fatty by using skim milk instead of half and half, but if you don't care about that then I suggest using half and half for a much creamier soup! But the skim milk to me was probably just as tasty! Maybe I am just biased, because Basil is one of my favorite herbs to cook with (I can't keep enough of it in my garden), but basil and tomato are great flavors to marry. I actually added extra Basil just because I like it so much! Hope you enjoy it as much as we did...and yes I made extra so I could put some in my freezer!!! LOL I am telling you my deep freezer would rock your socks off!

Creamy Tomato Basil Italian Sausage Soup

(adapted from Picky Palate)

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 lb Italian Sausage

15 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade (stacked, rolled and thinly sliced)

1 26 oz jar of whatever pasta sauce you like (you could use homemade I cheated and used Ragu)

1 Cup water

1 1/2 Cups Skim Milk

Salt

Fresh Cracked Pepper

Dash of Red Pepper Flakes (optional)

Place olive oil into a medium sized dutch oven over medium heat. Cook sausage until browned, stirring frequently and breaking up the sausage into small pieces. Stir in basil leaves, pasta sauce, water, milk, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Cook until warm then reduce heat to low. Simmer until ready to serve. I simmered mine about 30 minutes...I wanted to give the soup time to let the flavors mingle! But if you are in a time crunch this soup is really ready once everything is added to the pot and it is warmed up.

Tortilla Soup with Black Beans

So I recently got this great magazine in the mail...Everyday Food! It is a Martha Stewart magazine, but the thing is I don't know who got it for me!!! I love the magazine though! It is full of great recipes on every page. I seriously think I dog eared almost every page!!! That's how good ALL the recipes looked!!! I came across this one today, looking through the magazine for like the third time, and thought it would be perfect for a Sunday afternoon...and lunches for this week! It is really healthy at only 277 calories (less I would say for me because I didn't add the chips into the soup only as a topper) per serving. It is so delicious and it was so simple to put together! I always keep things like canned tomatoes and black beans in my pantry, just in case days like today come up where I want to make a soup! You can never have toomany canned tomatoes or beans in your pantry! I hope you like it as much as I did!

Tortilla Soup with Black Beans

(from Everyday Food a Martha Stewart Magazine)

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon chili powder (mine was a heaping teaspoon...I like things spicy!)

2 14.5 ounce cans of diced tomatoes in juice (one of my cans was the regular diced tomatoes the other I used diced tomatoes with chili's) (I also bought the cans with no salt added)

1 14.5 ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 10 ounce package of frozen corn

coarse salt and pepper

1 cup crushed tortilla chips, plus more for serving (I bought the wheat ones)

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, plus lime wedges for serving

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Cook garlic and chili powder in oil until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes (with juice), beans broth, corn, and 1 cup of water. Season with salt and pepper.

***I didn't add the 1 cup of water because I didn't want the soup broth to be watered down, and also because I knew I wasn't going to add the 1 cup of crushed tortilla chips to the soup. I didn't want to add the crushed chips to the soup, one to make it healthier and two because I hate soggy chips! You certainly can make it the other way, this was just what I did. ***

Bring soup to a boil; reduce to a simmer. Add tortilla chips; cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in lime juice, and season with salt and pepper. Serve soup with lime wedges and more crushed chips.

Calling all you leftovers!

I was trying to figure out ways to use up all these Thanksgiving leftovers, when I came across this blog. There was a recipe for Broccoli, Ham, Mac and Cheese Soup...I know right...YUMMO (as Rachael puts it so well!). I changed a few things in the recipe just so it wasn't AS unhealthy, but the soup turned out delicious! It was so easy to throw together too! My husband loved it as well, which is always a good thing! :o)

Broccoli, Ham, Mac and Cheese Soup

(adapted from Culinary in the Desert)

4 ounces dry medium pasta shells

1 1/2 cup chopped broccoli florets

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 3/4 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cup skim milk

8 ounces (about 2 cups) shredded sharp white cheddar

1 cup diced ham (I used a little more than 1 cup)

salt

fresh ground black pepper

garlic salt

In a large pot of boiling salted water, add pasta and cook according to package directions. Cook pasta according to package directions. A minute or two before the pasta is done, add broccoli - drain well when done and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, heat butter over medium. Whisk in flour and mustard - cook, whisking, for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in broth, and milk. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high until the mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat to low.

Gradually stir in cheese until melted and smooth. Stir in ham, cooked macaroni and pasta - cook, stirring, until thoroughly heated through, about 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and garlic salt to taste. I saved some cheese to put on top of the soup along with some fresh cracked pepper. ENJOY!!

I say "Potato"!

I love Potato Soup!! Back when I lived in Ohio there was a restaurant (Bennigan's) that had the BEST Potato Soup ever!!! They actually went out of business, but I always had searched for a recipe to make that beloved Potato Soup they served. My friend had sent me a recipe awhile ago for a knock-off version of the soup, and I did some research on Food Blog Search. I found a recipe on Baking Delights Blog and decided to combine it with some of my Potato Soup recipes I had tried in the past...this is what I came up with!! It was so delicious!!

Not Quite Bennigan's Potato Soup...

8 Large Potatoes Peeled and cut into bite size pieces

6 Tablespoons of Smart Balance 50/50 Butter

1 Onion Finely Chopped

3 Ribs of Celery finely chopped

4 Cloves of Garlic Minced

3 Tablespoons of Flour

2 Cups Low Sodium Chicken Stock

2 Cups of Half and Half

1 Cup Skim Milk

2 Tablespoons Garlic Salt

Freshly Cracked Pepper

1 Cup Shredded Velveeta

Boil potatoes until soft. Drain and set aside. In a deep soup pan, melt the butter. Add the onion and celery, cook until soft (not browned). Add the minced garlic, garlic salt and fresh cracked pepper. Stir to coat the celery and onion. Add the flour to create a Roux (it helps thicken the soup). Let the flour absorb all the melted butter until it gets thick. Once it thickens add the Chicken Stock, Half and Half and Skim milk. (I waited to add the milk just to see how thick it was, and added milk for the consistency I wanted) Once combined turn heat to low and let simmer. Take about 1 cup of potatoes and mash them. Add the mashed and bite size pieces of potatoes to the soup. Stir. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Top with cracked pepper, shredded Velveeta and garlic salt if desired.