The Best Soup

No, really, it is the best soup, ever! My mom came up with this soup and it was a staple of winter meals growing up. It's not only delicious, but full of vitamins and minerals to ward off colds and flu plus it's hearty enough that even my meat-and-potatoes hubby can eat it without a roll and feel full. We made our first batch of the season for Sunday night dinner and we had enough left over for Monday dinner and Tuesday lunch. Here is the recipe:

Corn Chowder Soup

Servings = 8-10

Time = 1 hour

Ingredients

6 thick-cut bacon strips

1 onion, chopped

2 cans corn, drained

2 T sugar

1 t salt

1/2 t fresh cracked pepper

2 T butter

1 c 2% milk, divided

2 T all purpose flour

2 can diced tomatoes, not drained

2 c red potatoes, chopped

2 c hot water

Directions

In a heavy duty skillet, cook bacon until crispy. Set on paper towel to cool. Pour out grease. Then cook onion in the skillet until softened.

While onion is cooking, in a large stock pot with a heavy bottom, add corn, sugar, salt, pepper, butter and 3/4 c milk. Bring to simmer. Whisk remaining 1/4 c milk with flour. Pour flour mix into corn and continue to cook, while stirring, until just thick. Remove from heat and add the cooked onion. Use an immersion blender to blend to desired consistency.

Add tomatoes, potatoes and hot water to the corn. Bring to simmer, stirring frequently, and cook until potatoes are tender. Break up the bacon into the soup. Stir and serve.

Notes - You can use whole milk to make the soup creamier, but you can't use 1% or skim milk because the fat-to-flour ratio will be off. You can use any type of potato as long as it is thinned skinned.