Chicken Corn Chowder

This is one of those “how to feed a family on not much of anything” potato soup recipes, so adjust ingredients or measurements to what you have on hand and season as you please.

Ingredients:

• 6 to 8 med. Russet potatoes, peeled and sliced into a heavy saucepan.
• Just enough cold water to almost cover the potatoes
• 1/2 stick butter (put 3 T. in pan with potatoes and 1 T. into a small skillet)
• 1 sm. can chicken (drain juice into pan of potatoes, reserve meat for later)
• 1 env. Goya chicken or a bouillon cube
• 1/4 c. chopped onion
• 1/2 c. corn, drained
• 1/4 c. crumbled cooked bacon, optional
• 1 T. dried minced chives
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1/4 c. milk or evaporated milk, if needed
• Cheddar cheese, for garnish

Bring potatoes, water, 3 T. butter, and juice from canned chicken to boil over medium heat. Add chicken broth seasoning.

Meanwhile, saute onion in butter until they start to soften; add corn and bacon bits. Continue to saute until onion is tender.

Add onion mixture to pot of potatoes. Cook until potatoes break easily when stirred or poked with a fork. Reduce heat to low. Add reserved chicken, chives, and sour cream. Think with milk, if desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Gently heat through and serve topped with grated cheddar cheese.

VARIATIONS: replace canned chicken with a can of minced clams, add mushrooms. Use chunks of ham or sliced kielbasa instead of chicken, omit bacon. Omit meats and chicken seasoning for just potato soup, toss in leftover veggies, etc.

Is it good? Ask my grandsons. They went from “ewe, I don’t want to eat that” to “umm, this is good” real quick.

My apologies for the lack of step-by-step photos. This isn’t a cooking blog. I just post recipes now and then as someday, those boys might get nostalgic for grandma’s cooking and find this online after I’m long gone. Thanks for reading!

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Strawberry Kiss Cookies

It’s a holiday tradition to bake cookies with grandma. These two rowdy little boys wanted to make strawberry cookies. That’s not on our traditional list, so we did a twist on an old favorite and used a cake mix for an easy strawberry flavored dough. They turned out okay.

Strawberry Kiss Cookies

• 1 strawberry cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/8 cup flour
• 32 to 50 Hershey’s Kisses

Mix dry cake mix, eggs, and oil in a bowl with a wooden spoon. Stir in flour, if needed, to make a nice dough (ours seemed too moist without it). Drop by spoonfuls (we used a cookie scoop) onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees until just lightly brown on edges and bottoms. Remove from oven and press an unwrapped chocolate Kiss on top of each cookie.  Our batch made 32 cookies.

NOTE: Extra kisses required if kids are in charge of unwrapping candy.

Thanks for reading!

6″ Cherry Cream Pie

My very first 6″ mini pie and flop all in one… I’m posting it anyway because it tastes okay and creating new recipes is experimental. Learn as ya go, eh?

So, what’s wrong with it?

1. Crust is too thick. Next time I make Basic 6″ Pie Crust, I will roll thinner.
2. Vanilla Cream (recipe below) is too thin. I wanted it firm, to not sag out.

Oh yeah… it sagged out. Maybe I should have stuck to my original plan (cherry meringue) but I I accidentally dumped sugar into the egg white all at once, before I even beat it, so I took the yolk and change direction. I’m happy with the cherry topping. This size is supposed to serve two, but I think it big enough to serve four. Or, if all you want is a little sweet treat, cut it into 6 wedges like the slice in the photo.

Vanilla Cream Recipe

• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 T cornstarch (not enough, add 1 tsp???)
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1/2 tsp butter
• 1/4 tsp vanilla

Beat egg yolk with a fork, add sugar and stir well. Dissolve cornstarch in milk, then stir into egg mixture. Heat in a double-boiler, stirring constantly, until it becomes thick and smooth. Add butter and vanilla. Stir until smooth again. Remove from heat and let rest to slightly cool, then pour into a pre-baked 6″ crust. Cool to room temperature. Top as desired. Chill overnight.

NOTE:  I don’t own a double-boiler pan, so I used a speckled (graniteware) metal pie plate that nests just right on top of one of my pans yet it’s still easy to lift off. And, it works great! Just get the water to a rolling boil before setting whatever fits on top on your pan.

Since this recipe makes so little, it cooks up really quick and it makes just enough for a 6″ pie, leaving plenty of room for a top layer.

I will make it again… play around until I get the cornstarch measurement just right, maybe add a dash of nutmeg (so tempted last night, but didn’t think an eggnog flavor would go well with cherries) and come up with other flavors, too. I’m thinking it will be a good basic recipe to vary for other cream pies… banana cream, coconut cream, etc.

Maybe I should have used flour instead of cornstarch?

TOPPING:  1/2 to 2/3 cup of whatever you want… cherry or blueberry pie filling, another type of pudding, maybe just sliced strawberries.

I had homemade cherry pie filling in the freezer, so I thawed out a bag (one cup) and cooked it down while stirring constantly with a wire whisk until the cherries broke to bits and it was thick enough to show the bottom of the pan along the path of a spoon.

If you try this recipe, I hope yours comes out better than mine.

Thanks for reading!