Poor Man's Chicken, Corn, Potato Chowder...made with leftovers

I was meeting a friend for dinner last night and felt bad leaving T to fend for himself (it may have turned out being a run to the nearest fast food restaurant if I did).  So I threw some chicken breasts in a crockpot with chicken seasoning, quartered onions, quartered potatoes and mini carrots.  Eight hours later, POOF, dinner! 

Of course, it was only T eating dinner last night so there were tons of left overs.  About 4 or so chicken breasts as well as the veggies.  I am in a new mindset of using all leftovers if at all possible.  So today I was trying to think of what I could make that would utilize the chicken and veggies.  I thought, hmmm, maybe chicken/corn chowder.

I had found ears of white corn during my usual grocery trip for $.47/ea so I got about 5 ears.  I already had the chicken and the potatoes AND they were already cooked.  Tomorrow is my veggie/fruit shopping day at a farmer market store or Fry's so I really wanted to use up the veggies in the fridge drawer.  After looking for recipes online, and being unsuccessful at finding anything that sounded good or used the ingredients I had, I decided to go it alone.  Turned out that it was EASY and oh so yummy!  T LOVED it and, luckily, there is enough left over for dinner tomorrow night!!  And, if you eliminate the potatoes, you could probably freeze it really well.  Which is a mental note I am making as something I might make and freeze in early December before baby is born.

Here is what I did (in my typical, loose, casual recipe style):

Approx 1 -2 TBL olive oil
1/2 stick of butter (never said it was healthy)
4 - 5 left over crock pot seasoned chicken breasts
Left over potatoes from crock pot
Approx 6 ears of white or yellow corn
1 med to large sweet onion diced
Approx 3 or so stalks of celery diced
Approx 1 - 2 cups of thinly sliced mini carrots
(2) Bay leaves (optional)
Garlic salt (or finely diced garlic - I didn't have any on hand)
(2) cans of cream of chicken (or cream of anything really)
Milk

In a large soup pan, add olive oil and butter over medium heat.  When butter is melted, add diced onions, celery and carrots.  Add the bay leaves if you are using them.  Sprinkle with garlic salt (if you are using actual garlic, wait to add until the veggie are almost done so you don't burn the garlic).  Saute until tender.

While veggies are softening, shuck corn and rinse off silks.  Place a smaller bowl upside down in a larger bowl, place the cob of corn on the smaller bowl and cut off the kernels using a paring knife.  Or you can use canned corn or frozen corn.  I am sure it would all work the same.  When the veggies are soft to your liking, add corn kernels.

While corn is cooking with the veggies, dice the left over chicken breasts and potatoes.  Once corn is cooked to your liking, add chicken and potatoes.  They are already cooked so you are just wanting to warm through. 

Once warm, add two cans of cream of whatever floats your boat.  Then add three can fulls of milk.  Stir well.  Take out bay leaves (if you used).  Heat through.  You are done!

Now, for us, we love spicy so I did add two jalapenos to the veggies.  I left the seeds of half of a pepper for spice.  T said it was the PERFECT amount of spice.  Interesting but not damaging.

I tried to take a pic of the final product but it tastes a lot better than it looks.  =]  Ours was thick like chowder but you can thin it out to your liking by adding more milk or by substituting chicken broth in place of milk.  Or you can keep it super thick with less milk.  This recipe would also work with the cooked rotisserie chicken from the store or the pre-cooked chicken strips in the deli section.  But the crock pot makes the meat so tender...it is hard to go any other way.

Bon appetit!

Loaded Potato Soup

Ingredients:
* Potatoes - peeled, washed and quartered (you can use red, gold or russet)
* Yellow or sweet onion - peeled & diced
* Garlic salt
* 3 TBS corn starch mixed in approx 1.5 cups hot tap water
* Milk
* Butter
* Cheddar cheese (for topping)
* Diced green onions (optional) for topping
* Crumbled bacon (optional) for topping

Put diced potatoes and onions in soup pot (I use one of my larger pots so that I have plenty of leftovers!).  Cover potatoes and onions with water until water line is about an inch above the potatoes.  Add garlic salt and boil until potatoes are tender but not mushy.  Stir the corn starch mixture well and add the entire amount to the pot.  Reduce heat to simmer.  This will thicken the broth.

Add a touch of milk until broth turns more of a white color.  Add butter (to taste - in my large pot, I put about a half a stick....no one said this was a healthy dish!).  Stir until well mixed and let simmer until all butter is melted.  Soup will thicken upon sitting and will be even thicker as left overs (if you want it thinned a bit days following, just add a touch of milk).

Ladel soup into bowl and add grated cheddar cheese and the other optional toppings.  I also add fresh ground pepper and saltine crackers to mine.

Making this soup is a great way to use up any potatoes that are getting close to extinction in your pantry.  I usually make this soup on grocery day when I am bringing home a fresh batch of potatoes and need to get rid of the week prior potatoes.