½ cup carrots shredded
1 cup milk
½ cup chicken broth
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
1 cup onions
1 cup diced red bell pepper
1 potato cut into bite size
pieces
½ lb. uncooked boneless,

skinless chicken breasts cut

into bite size pieces 2 15–oz. cans cream corn ½ cup dried potato flakes ½ cup cheddar cheese grated

Combine all ingredients except potato flakes and cheese in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 5–6 hours or until potatoes and chicken are tender and thoroughly cooked. Add potato flakes stirring well. Cook on high, uncovered, 5–10 minutes until thickened.

Top servings with cheese.

Smoked Chicken Chowder

Contributed by Mike Cox

3 medium onions, chopped
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 large russet (baking) potato
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 fresh jalapeno chili, seeded
and minced fine
1/4 cup all–purpose flour
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups heavy cream
3 plum tomatoes, seeded and
diced
2 cups fresh or frozen corn
1 cup shredded Monterey

Jack cheese
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh flat–leaf
parsley leaves
1/2 canned chipotle chili in
adobo sauce, minced fine
1–1/2 whole boneless smoked
chicken breasts, cut into
1/2–inch dice

In a 6–quart heavy kettle, cook onions in oil over moderate heat stirring, until softened. Peel and cut potato into 1/4–inch dice. To kettle, add potato, garlic, and jalapeno, and cook, stirring, for one minute. Stir in flour, and cook over moderate heat, stirring two minutes. Whisk in 2 cups broth and heavy cream, and bring to boil, stirring. Add tomatoes, corn, cheese, parsley, chipotle, and chicken, and simmer, stirring occasionally, and adding enough of remaining broth to thin soup to desired consistency, 20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper.

Clam Chowder

5 cups bottled clam juice
1 cup flour
1 cup onion, finely diced
10 slices cooked bacon,
chopped
2 Tbsp. margarine
8 oz. cooked clams,
chopped
4 medium potatoes, cooked
and cut in bite sized chunks
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup light cream

1 tsp. salt
freshly ground black pepper

Heat clam juice in a large saucepan on medium heat. In a separate pan, melt margarine and saute onions until translucent. Add bacon and flour to melted margarine and stir continuously for five minutes. Increase heat on clam juice to medium–high, and, with a wire whisk, add flour, margarine, and onion mixture to liquid. Stir constantly, breaking up any lumps. Add clams and stir. Add potato chunks, milk, cream, and salt, and continue stirring. Decrease heat to medium–low, and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid burning or sticking.

A History of Chowder

Chowder is typically a rich, creamy soup that is chock full of all kinds of ingredients that make it similar to a stew. The ingredients usually include seafood, vegetables, and cream. However, over time, the basic seafood chowder has evolved to include all kinds of different flavors and textures.

Traditionally made chowder has a base of bacon and is thickened up with crackers that have been broken into the base. Today, there are all kinds of variations using everything from seafood and poultry, to just using vegetables – a good example is corn chowder.

Famous chowders are found here in the United States. And the most famous one would be clam chowder. There are two styles of clam chowder. New England style clam chowder uses a base of cream. The other popular version of clam chowder, Manhattan style, uses a base of pureed tomatoes.

In earlier days, the seafaring communities developed slightly different flavors of chowders. The local fishermen would throw samples of their catches into a large cauldron or pot and boil the chunks of fish with all kinds of vegetables and potatoes. France calls this chowder soup “Chaudiere” – which is the name of the pot it is cooked in. The French also liked to throw in smashed crackers and biscuits to make the soup thicken into a stew–like consistency.

Americans adopted this seafood stew from the French settlers in the Northern colonies. “Chaudiere” eventually became “Chowder” to Americans.

In the 1800s American cooks started to make the transition to using clams in their recipes – mostly because of the abundance of shell fish found in the New Colonies. Cooks began experimenting and adding cream to the chowders. They then began to differentiate different and unique types of chowder based on the ingredients used. Thus, other types of chowders appeared such as Corn Chowder or Sausage Bean Chowder or Beef Chowder.

Chowder doesn’t always have to include seafood. It’s believed that all kinds of vegetable or meat chowders came into existence because the cook was just using up whatever ingredients he or she had lying around the kitchen.

When you eat chowder, you are partaking in a little bit of history.