A favorite recipe

Cheddar Chicken Corn Chowder

3 bacon slices
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut in bite-sized pieces
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup diced red bell pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
4-1/2 cups chicken broth
1-3/4 cups diced, peeled potatoes
1-1/4 cups frozen corn (half cream style and half whole-kernel)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon in Dutch oven over medium high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, crumble and set aside. Add the chicken, onion, bell peper and garlic to drippings in pan and saute 5 minutes. Add broth and potato and bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes until ptoato is tender. Add corn and stir well.

Place flour in a bowl, gradually add milk and whisk until blended. Add to the soup. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 15 minutes or until thick, stirring frequently. Stir in the cheddar chees, salt and pepper. Top with crumbled bacon.

* This recipe out of Newnan Coweta Magazine, January/February 2008

And now, for my twist. This is such a yummy soup. I love a good cream soup, but when I found this recipe I didn't have all of the ingredients I needed, plus I didn't like some of the stuff, so I changed it up a little. That's the beauty of soup. It's very forgiving.

I did not add the onion, red bell pepper or garlic cloves. Instead of the potatoes, I used a mashed potato mix along with the garlic butter flavoring that it came with. I also threw in some butter to make sure the potatoes had buttery flavor. Otherwise, I pretty much stuck to the recipe.

Do you have a favorite soup recipe you'd like to share? The easier the better, as far as I'm concerned.