Chicken and Corn Chowder

I'd love to be more organized. I've been cooking gluten free now for almost 2 years. What a learning curve! I'm still trying to find that #1 gluten free pie crust or joy of all joys, a GF flour tortilla that is pliable. I've tried many recipes and found ones I'm basically happy with, but I guess I'm just still searching for the "best" that's out there. I've got recipes scritch scratched on little post-it notes and little bags of GF this and that in a kitchen drawer. I'd be embarrassed to die and leave my mess for someone else to figure out!

I think part of the problem is I don't have the time or money for endless cooking sessions. For instance, I just made some GF molasses cookies. I tried a GF recipe out of a book and YUK! So, I took a regular recipe and converted it. I'm basically happy with it - it is chewy and has the right flavor. It does seem a little grainy though after chewing a bit. I'd love to try making it with some more eggs and see how it comes out. However, I still have cookie dough left in the fridge that needs to be cooked up. And after we finish that off I won't be in the mood for MORE molasses cookies. So...my ideas and tweaking will have to wait until later. Hence, no recipe that I'm really happy with just yet.

I'd really love it if I did more prep work, but I'm so tired from all of the regular cooking and two little ones that it is only something I dream of. I'd love to have plenty of cheese already grated (we used to have money for packaged grated cheese:)) and I'd love to have chicken already cooked up, diced, and in the freezer. I'd also love to have some GF pizza dough rounds already mixed up and shaped just waiting in the freezer for pizza night.

I did get a taste of what it would be like to benefit from such organization this afternoon because I just happened to have some basic ingredients all ready. I started with a soup base of butter and bacon drippings (I'm sorry if I made you cringe!) and added milk. I also added some minced onion, chicken and bacon I already had cooked up, and then added a can of corn and a bouillon cube. What I got was a delicious soup that was ready in 10 minutes. That's my kind of cooking! It was so delicious that it was eaten before the camera was pulled out. I'll make it again soon and take a picture but for now - the simple recipe...

Chicken and Corn Chowder
1/4 cup of butter
2 Tablespoons bacon drippings or olive oil
Saute 1/2 medium onion diced
After onion is a bit tender, add 2 tablespoons of potato flour or corn starch. I used potato flour and I think it was a winner. (Potato flour is different from potato starch.) Stir constantly until blended and a paste forms.
Slowly add 1 1/2 cups milk until thick for cream soup. Add more water if needed.
To this soup base add:
1 chicken bouillon cube - I use Herb-Ox
1 cup diced, cooked chicken
1 can of corn, drained
2-3 pieces of cooked bacon, chopped fairly fine
Seasonings - salt and pepper to taste, thyme or parsely flakes (or fresh if you happen to have it!).
I think the addition of potatoes would go well in here also.
Yummy! My five year old declared it tasty and that makes me a happy mom.

For those times when you only have a couple cups of soup left in the fridge and a few people to feed, just ccok up some rice and serve it over the top. That makes another easy dinner and it is budget friendly!