Chicken Corn Chowder

Chicken Corn Chowder

It's a rainy day and I happen to have some home made chicken broth on hand from a chicken I cooked earlier in the week.  This would be a perfect time to make chicken corn chowder and a batch of chicken enchiladas.  This is a very flexible soup - add cilantro to garnish to spice it up, or even add some red pepper flakes or chopped jalapeno to the soup.

Ingredients:

* 1 cup chicken broth  (I like to use home made)
* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
* 2 potato, peeled, cut into 1/2" chunks
* 8 chopped green onions (scallions)
* 3/4 pound cooked chicken, in 1-inch cubes or smaller
* 3 cans (approx. 15 ounces each) cream-style corn
* 1/2 (or less) cup dehydrated potato flakes
* 2 cups skim or low fat milk
* 1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Chop the green onion, potato and chicken.  Open the cans of creamed corn and broth.  Combine all of these ingredients in the crock pot and turn it on low.  Do NOT add the milk, potato flakes and cheese yet.

Cook for 5-6 hours.

After 5-6 hours, the potato should be tender.  Now,  add the milk and dehydrated potato flakes. Add the dehydrated potato flakes slowly to test out how thick you want your soup to be.  You can always add more later.

Cook for another 20 minutes or so on high.  Serve sprinkled with cheese.  Cilantro makes a nice garnish and spices it up a bit, if desired.

Serve with some chicken or bean and cheese enchiladas, a green salad, tortilla chips and salsa.  Or, make a meal out of the soup in itself, served in a bread bowl or with some nice crusty bread.