Rainy Day Corn Chowder

It's the end of the week... almost, one more day of waking up at the crack of dawn to go to work, then the weekend, which is full of cleaning, baby showers, and hopefully a date night in there...I'm not dropping hints or anything to the hubs :) When Thursday night rolls around sometimes I wish it could just be my Friday night, bottom line is I'm tired, here I am avoiding my dishes, and mopping my floor, thankfully bathrooms were cleaned last night! I really want to relax with one of my new cashew thumb print cookies and watch a movie or escape into a book! Sounds awesome! P.S. my abs are still hurting from the ab challenge, hence another reason why I want to sit and do nothing :) Well I plan too, but not before I share this creamy little sunshine with you all.

To wrap up "C" day of our Alphabet days I chose to make creamy Corn Chowder, I call it a rainy day chowder because I think it's perfect for those stormy days! I found the recipe here, and only made a few tweaks to it. I think it turned out really great. My kids gobbled it up, seriously I think this is one of the first soups that my little man hasn't flung all over the kitchen! I added some cauliflower to this soup to add another "C" and also to add more chunk, it went really great with all the other ingredients.

Rainy Day Corn Chowder

4 c frozen corn

2 c chopped cauliflower

1 strip of bacon (optional)

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

3 T flour

3 c vegetable broth

4 medium potatoes

1 bay leaf

1 c milk *

1/2 c half and half *

2 T parsley

1 pinch of sugar

1/4 tsp nutmeg

In pot cook bacon until crispy, add onion into the oils and cook until translucent. Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant. Add flour and broth and whisk continually until it is mixed well together. Stir in half and half, potatoes, 3/4 amount of corn, sugar, nutmeg cauliflower bay leaf, and milk. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer ten minutes until potatoes and cauliflower are tender. Remove half of soup and put it into blender. Blend until desired consistency is reached then return it to the pot. Add remaining amount of corn and heat until corn is hot. Sprinkle with parsley and a little cheese if you want!!! Enjoy

*I used Almond milk, it's not as thick as 2% milk so I added more half and half, if you use cow's milk you probably could keep the half and half at 1/2 a cup, if you want it creamier and you are using a non-dairy milk maybe increase 1/2 and 1/2 to 1 cup and reduce milk to 1/2 a cup! 

*Vegan options, use a cashew cream sauce instead of half and half, and no cow's milk or bacon

*Gluten free options, just be sure and use a gluten free flour!