Spring Chowder

Well maybe its not a real chowder because the soup was not that thick, but it was sure tasty!

I made one serving just for me. I am so selfish!

Here are some little chopped up potatoes.

Lemon thyme and chives from my garden.

Here is the thyme in my herb garden.

Here are the chives too. I just love their little purple flowers. I love having an herb garden all year round. I am actually going to expand it this spring. Also I ordered nine heirloom tomato starts from a grower up north on etsy. We didn't have time to do our own this year. Next year though I am planning to go off. My husband is currently building special beds for his succulents which I can also use as a cold frame for next year. He is also installing poles for a shade system over the portion of our backyard that we use for his nursery and our vegetable beds. The summers are pretty brutal here and a lot of time our veggies eat it by the time August rolls around.

Recipe for chowder

Half an ear of fresh corn

half of a red onion

two small red potatoes about 2 to 3 ounces

a couple of sprigs of thyme

a small bundle of chives chopped

half a cup of whole milk

one cup water

half a teaspoon of butter

a pinch of red pepper flakes

one ounce of ham

In a small pot melt your butter on medium heat (also I used a 1/4 butter and 1/4 olive oil) add salt and pepper( to your taste) your chopped up thyme and your chopped onion until soft. I cooked mine until it was browned because that's how I like it. Then add milk, water, and potatoes. I brought the mixture up to a boil and then brought down the mixture to a simmer for about 10 minutes. Be sure to keep stirring so the milk doesn't burn or form a skin. At this point I added the corn and chives to the pot. I brought it back up to a boil and then turned it off. You can continue to keep cooking it if its too watery for you. That's what I did. Then I chopped up my ham and fried it in a pan until it was browned. I didn't add any oil for this. You could use bacon or prosciutto. I used ham because of the left overs from Easter. You could even put chopped up smoked salmon in it as well or no meat at all. Pour your soup into a bowl, add your chili flakes or not and ham. You could also change the ration of water and milk or you could use cream but that's a lot of cream or you could just use milk. I used that ratio because I didn't want to use that much whole milk. The whole soup had about 344 calories and was satisfying. Experiment with what you have that's what I do. Enjoy!