Recipe: Summer Corn, Bacon & Potato Chowder

My friend Jeanne asked me to take photos of my recipes so here you go!

I got this recipe from Weight Watchers and made it last weekend. The fact that it was fairly simple to make is what attracted me to the recipe (not to mention the yummy ingredients!). I added two cups of broccoli to the recipe at the last minute. The corn came from a farm down the street, freshly picked that day. It can't get any sweeter than that!

I made a major mistake when putting this recipe together. Since I don't like peppers, I assumed I could substitute red pepper flakes for the fresh pepper. I'm sure if I had the measurement correct it would have had just a little bit of a zip. I really can't remember how much I put it in but it's safe to say it was way too much. The first bite was like fire and each one after that was equally as hot. My family all agreed that it would have been good if there wasn't so much red pepper in it. I quickly went online (during dinner) and read that adding sugar would take some of the bite out of the red pepper. It did help, though it was still pretty spicy. The next time I make this I won't add any red pepper flakes at all. I'm sure fresh corn will be out of season by then so I'll substitute with frozen corn. I use regular bacon instead of Canadian bacon because that's what I have in the house. I skipped the hot sauce (should've skipped the red pepper too! lol). I doubled the recipe for a family of four and it gave us enough for two meals.

Summer Corn, Bacon and Potato Chowder

1 medium potato

1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/4 cup onion, chopped (or 1 large shallot)
4 ears corn on the cob, kernels removed with a knife
1 cup sweet red peppers, diced
4 oz Canadian-style bacon, diced
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp hot pepper sauce, or to taste
Cooking spray

Peel and boil potato under tender. Mash, set aside. Coat a large saucepan with cooking spray. Add celery, onion, corn and red pepper, saute over medium-high heat for 5 minutes.
Stir bacon and milk into saucepan; stir in mashed potato and mix well. Season with salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce; stir to combine. Cover and simmer 10 minutes (do not allow to boil). Serves 4.

*Notes: Substitute your favorite fresh vegetables like asparagus and broccoli for the red pepper. Or to save time, substitute 2 cups of frozen corn and 1 cup of frozen, diced red bell pepper for the fresh corn and red pepper.