Sunday Soup: Shrimp & Corn Chowder

As I've said eleventy billion times, I make soup on Sundays. Hence the title of most of my soup posts beginning with Sunday Soup. A durr. I make it on some other days too, but mainly on Sundays. Soup says love to me and has ever since I stood on a chair while Mom Mom wrapped my little hand around a wooden spoon, dipped it into the veggie beef barley on the stove, and taught me how to stir.

As a bonus, soup is usually pretty good for you. Sometimes, it's not so good for you. Those creamy, cheesey, salty soups we love can contribute to a case of plump buttocks. I subscribe to Cooking Light magazine, but I often find their recipes a little under-seasoned. I appreciate them doing the legwork on lightening them up though.

This Sunday I took Cooking Light's Shrimp & Corn Chowder and jazzed it up a little. I doubled the original recipe, desiring leftovers. This was more than enough to feed six people. So if you are solo or just want one meal, feel free to halve the recipe!

Ingredients
10 center-cut bacon slices, chopped
2 bunches of green onions, sliced thin (white and green parts)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tbs minced garlic
Just shy of a 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
5 cups 2%  milk
2.5 cups chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper (black okay)
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 bags large uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used the 41-50 count bags from Target and thawed them first)
5 cups frozen corn kernels (if you have fresh, use that! I used fresh corn that I had frozen and it was the bomb dot com)

Directions
Cook bacon in a large pot over medium heat 6 minutes or until crisp.

Remove bacon with a slotted spoon, leaving the drippings in there.

Add green onions, thyme, and garlic to pan. Saute two minutes.

Sprinkle flour over and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Stir in milk and turn heat up, continually scraping the bottom of the pot to get all the browned goodness up as flavor. After about three minutes, add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium.

Add kosher salt, white or black pepper, crushed red pepper, dry mustard and onion powder. Stir well and let cook two minutes. Add corn, wait four minutes and add shrimp. Cook four minutes or until shrimp are done.

I served with a spinach salad and some french bread with butter. Perfect.

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Haikuesday

So, buttery bread...
Does it negate the light soup?
Let us not discuss.

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What's your favorite soup?

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