Prior to this recipe I had never ever heard of cooking "baked potatoes" in the microwave- I know, I live a sheltered life!! I have always shied away from corn chowders for the very reason that if I am going to waste the time making a baked potato, I want a STEAK with it! (The picture shows you how easily the potatoes peel after you cook them in the microwave - just be sure to let them cool a little or you will DEFINITELY burn your fingers.)
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| Seriously who in their right mind wouldn't want to eat that?! |
In my quest to eat new and *hopefully* nutritional food I stumbled upon a recipe for Corn, Potato and Bacon Chowder - from WeightWatchers of all places. (I should probably put in a disclaimer here that I am slightly addicted to FoodGawker and Pinterest so it is very possible that the recipe came off of one of them. However I am equally as addicted to cookbooks so one never knows.) After reading the recipe I decided to give it a whirl - I mean who doesn't want to try a recipe when they have all the ingredients readily available (which was yet another thing I LOVE about this recipe).
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| Everything is better with local milk |
I made the chowder on a night when there was already a WONDERFUL pizza in the making so the chowder was just a thought for lunch the next day. After I was done, and before the pizza came out of the oven, I gave Brian a little bowl - it was a HIT. It isn't exactly a low calorie food, but it is super filling, and I can handle spending 180 of my calories on a serving of this chowder!!
CORN, POTATO and BACON CHOWDER
- 1 medium potato
- 2 cups corn
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1 cup broccoli (or veggie of choice)
- 2 cups milk
- 4 oz canadian bacon (chopped)
- salt and pepper to taste
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| Aren't our little soup bowls adorable?! |
- Cook potato in the microwave (be sure to wash and puncture then just stick it in the microwave for 4 minutes each side) Once done, set aside to cool.
- Sauté your vegetables in your saucepan or stock pot until tender and slightly browned (I just spray the pot with pam, but I think you are supposed to use some oil)
- Once your potato is cool, peel and discard the peel (or if you are like me eat it cause that is the best part of the potato). Then mash the potato.
- Once vetegables are sautéd, add milk, mashed potato and uncooked canadian bacon.
- Blend all ingrediants well - make sure you mix the mashed potato in well so there are no clumps
- Turn down burner to a simmer, cover your pot and let simmer for 10 or so minutes. DO NOT ALLOW TO BOIL.
The recipe as is makes 4 servings at about 180 calories each (or for those of you doing WW: 6 points per serving). The very first time I made the recipe I didn't have any defrosted canadian bacon, and I was simply to rushed to wait for it to defrost so I ended up using the caloric equivalent of crumbled regular bacon. The chowder is wonderful both ways. I have found that now I double the recipe seeing Brian will eat at least two servings if we have it for dinner and he likes taking it for lunch so we want leftovers! Give it a whirl and let me know what you think :-D
aw you don't do milk either - I thought about you when I was typing up the bacon part but I didn't even think about the milk. I wonder if it could be made with soy milk and still taste ok? (I don't do soy or almond milk so I really have no basis for knowing) Also you could try it with imitation bacon bits - not meat but will still give the flavor of bacon!! and you wouldn't need nearly as much seeing imitation bits, in my opinion, are SUPER STRONG. I think I could eat it without the bacon - I always use broccoli cause I LOVE broccoli, and all the veggies are just wonderful. It would just need some seasoning!!
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