Garden vegetable soup with roasted chicken

We ate WAY too much at Logan's steakhouse last night so tonight I am making focaccia and vegetable soup with roasted chicken.

I find that if I prep whatever I can in the morning or during the day, making dinner is a cinch. I like to prep while baby is napping in the morning, that way on some days my oldest can help me.
I make this soup with tomatoes but baby doesn't seem to tolerate tomatoes too well so I take a portion out then add canned diced tomatoes, if I could simmer it longer I would use fresh seeded tomatoes.

If you want you can throw the chicken bones into the soup once you shred the meat. If you aren't using a boneless breasts. Which I usually have breasts with ribs on hand for this. I just didn't today.

Again this is more of a method than a recipe...

Give Peas A Chance Greek Chicken

This is one of my versions of Greek Chicken, I warn you though I am not Greek. Far from it. But these are the flavors I think of when I think of Greek foods. I could be totally off. But this chicken, along with the Greek Chicken Kabobs linked below are both so good. Wrapped in soft, fluffy Perfect Pita bread, with rice, on top of a salad. The citrus and yogurt tenderize the meat, it comes out moist and flavorful. You'll put this on your menu regularly, we have it on ours! You can also use this marinade on a whole roaster chicken. Just rub the marinade on the inside cavity, under the skin of the chicken, and over the skin before roasting.

Greek Chicken Kabobs
Perfect Pita Bread

Simply Stinking Good Hummus

Simple Roasted Garlic Hummus

Truss Your Chicken

Roasted Chicken

No real recipe here, just a roasted chicken. It's a small one since there is only three of us, I didn't want to take out a huge roasting pan for a little bird, so I used a deep dish pie pan, worked great. I also didn't have a rack that would fit in the pie pan so I used whole veggies, in the end that was pointless to prop the chicken up I added lots of liquid when I basted anyway. I used whatever I had on hand, we are in operation clean out the freezer and I have been avoiding the grocery store until the veggies in the fridge are gone also. I served this with Amish white bread and scalloped potatoes.
1 Chicken- rinsed with cold water, and pat dry
Vegetables of your choice- carrots, celery, onions, garlic, Brussel sprouts, fennel... whatever
2 tablespoons butter
Seasonings- whatever you want, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, use what you like
1 cup chicken broth to baste if you want
Stuff to stuff- (your chicken with) fresh sage, half a lemon, garlic, onion, rosemary, veggies, whatever you like


I lined my pan with veggies to keep the chicken off the liquid, again pointless since i basted with so much, but we like the juices as a gravy.







Get your seasonings ready.







I rubbed butter under the skin (and broke the skin on the breast), inside the chicken and on the outside of the skin also. Then I seasoned the chicken inside, under the skin and outside the skin.






All I had was sage, I was too lazy to cut up onions and garlic so our bird was stuffed with sage.






Fold the wings under so the tips don't burn and tie the legs. I am no professional as long as it looks like my chicken is modest, I put it in the oven.
I roasted it at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes a pound. If you have a WORKING (GRRR) meat thermometer, use it. I basted it occasionally. Then in the end i turned it up to 375 and let it go for about 15 minutes.

Roasted Garlic Chicken

I have seen this chicken on Pinterest several times. Are you on Pinterest? If not do you need me to enable you, send you an invite? If so let me know in the comments below and I'll send you one. I puffy heart Pinterest.
So the chicken, I thought well, might as well try it. It was quick and easy to make, and everyone liked it. My oldest two girls had seconds, and thirds. You can't beat the simplicity and it tastes so good. The brown sugar isn't healthy, but it forms a beautiful crust that makes you not even care. Besides, I served it with roasted broccoli, sliced tomatoes, and fresh corn on the cob. 

The broccoli, I just tossed in a tiny bit of oil, added seasonings, and roasted for about 20 minutes, while the chicken cooked. It's so easy, but it's good. It reminds me of Kale Chips.

I used bone in chicken, I use bone in chicken every chance I get to be honest. I like the flavor. If you are using chicken pieces, cut the breasts in half so they cook evenly with the rest of the chicken. I also added a little bit of butter.

GPAC Orange Chicken or Tofu

This Orange Chicken is easy peasy to make. Everything was perfect for us, except that I decided to dredge the chicken in the cornstarch before the egg wash. I shouldn't have done that, the coating "puffs" up better if you dredge the chicken in egg wash, then into the corn starch. So that's how I wrote this recipe up.
This dish is fairly quick to make, and the ingredients are simple. Served with rice or cauliflower rice and steamed/roasted broccoli, my whole family eats well.

You can make this with tofu also. Just press it between paper towels to remove excess moisture.

Give Peas A Chance- Chicken Pot Pie

Today's MaNIc MoNDaY is from a post that I did back in October 2007. I don't follow are recipe for this anymore, but it's a family favorite. Sometimes I change the veggies up a bit, sometimes I use grilled chicken, roasted chicken, poached chicken. Sometimes I add different herbs, thyme, sage, oregano, rosemary, etc...

It's one of those meals I plan ahead for. Grilling chicken? Grill extra. Making soup? Throw in chicken breasts to poach. Roasting a bird? Save the bones for stock and some meat for pot pie. So easy, so yummy.

Here's the original post on Give Peas A Chance. Recipe is below also.

Freezer Tip: Stock Bag, Schmaltz Bag

Chicken stock bag and schmaltz bags for the freezer..

Hello! Quick Freezer Tip post today on two things. Stock bags and Schmaltz. I make several types of stock: seafood, beef, chicken, pork, vegetables. Often times I'll combine a couple or more. There's always vegetables in the beef, chicken, or pork. Often times I'll make beef stock and add pork. I don't mind adding chicken bones to a beef stock. But because chicken has a more delicate flavor I don't use beef or pork bones in that stock. For seafood I don't add any other bones or meats. 

So what's a stock bag, and what do I put in them? A stock bag is a I keep in the freezer, labeled with whatever the end result should be. The bag above is obvious as those are all chicken bones, but normally I would label the bag "chicken stock". Any bones from chickens, I throw in there. If I roast a chicken I'll break down the carcass and toss the bones in the bag. Kidneys and hearts we actually eat, but if we didn't they would go into the stock bag. Liver I wouldn't put in stock because it gets cloudy and tends to give off a metallic flavor I don't like. 

Manic Monday- Chicken Madaline

I'm sad to say that I don't make this often. I really like it, it's simple but good food. The girls will eat it but it's not one of those dishes they ask me to make.

 I've posted this before HERE.
You don't have to use Velveeta cheese or canned cream soups. Sub shredded cheddar cheese for the Velveeta, and make this healthy substitute HERE for the canned soups.

Do you have any dishes you enjoy but your family is like "eh" over? 

Find more "ManIc MoNdaY" posts here.

Chicken Madaline

Truss your chicken?

I love kitchen gadgets and such just as much as anyone else who loves to be in the kitchen. One of the things I can't ever find when I need it is my butchers twine. Beautiful thick unbleached butchers twine that I paid $14 bucks for. When I DO find it, I cut the twine before trussing and it's too short or I forget to cut it and my hands have raw meat on them. So I don't bother with chicken or turkey. I love roasted chicken and roasted turkey, so this is awesome. Doing it this way is a TON easier. So here's how to truss your chicken without twine.
**MORE PICTURES HERE**

Either trim the wing tips and put them in a bag to save when you're making stock next OR tuck them under the body like this. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but yucky raw chicken hands. Let's see if  I can explain it. Hold the wing close to the body of the chicken, like it would normally rest. The wing tips should be pointing up almost. Take one tip and push it toward the chicken and then up past the breast and tuck it behind the chicken. ( should have gotten better pictures.). Sorry, next time. I found a video here though.

For the legs. UGH Seriously pictures. I'll get someone to take picture for me the next time I do this. There is some loose skin/fat at the end of the body of the bird,  cut a small slit like dime size in each one of the flaps. Take the drumstick on the opposite side of one of the slits and thread it through. Repeat with the other drumstick so that they look crisscrossed. I just searched this blog and I have never taken a picture of a Thanksgiving turkey trussed like this. How irritating.  I hope this makes sense, someday I'll have someone take a video of how I do this. It's very easy.

I'll try to remember to get a picture once they are out of the oven.

Meal planning 101 and Emeals

 Is it just me or are there some days/weeks you sit down to meal plan for your family and you just go blank? Do you feel stuck in a rut at times? Do you not meal plan at all because it's too time consuming? I have felt all these ways at different times. The thing is I find that the more prepared I am, the less I spend, the healthier my family eats, and the less frazzled I get. I'm going to share with you all how I meal plan. I'm also going to show you how I use Emeals as a supplement to that.
You may want to read this post about processing groceries/freezing/planning also.

Here are things I do that help me with planning. This may not help you or apply to you-

American Girl- Washington DC

I mentioned we'd be back right? When we asked the girls where they wanted to go have dinner for their birthday's they said the American Girl Doll place. Hermm. Here's my first review of the place. The girls did say they wanted tea this time, but because of schedules we had to make reservations for dinner instead. I wasn't too disappointed we couldn't have tea. Other than the fact that it does cost less. Tea is $12.  Dinner was $17 a person. Except for Pixie she ordered off of the Bitty Bear's Picnic menu, $7.50 - not bad it comes with an entree, drink, and dessert. Prices don't include tax and tip. 

Each of the girls brought a doll along with them. So they got little seats to sit in. Of course you can borrow a doll or bring a teddy bear also. This is Diva's doll, Marie-Grace.
We got to the mall a little early so the girls and their cousin could look around the store. They all fell in love with Saige, the girl of the year. Diva really wanted her and Caroline. I told her I guess she's got some saving up to do. Piglet had just purchased Molly a week before our dinner. It was fun walking around and seeing all the accessories and the girls got to play with some of the items. All the salespeople on the floor were very helpful,  I had some questions about certain items and they were knowledgeable or found someone who knew the answer for me.

Our table was ready well ahead of our reserved time. We just decided to wait until all of our party was present. We were waiting on SIL and H. So it was 7 of us for dinner total. We were seated promptly. I mentioned when making reservations that we had a peanut allergy and that we were celebrating 4 birthday's but did not want a birthday package. When we were seated they brought us favor bags and I had to remind them that we didn't reserve with the birthday package, sigh. I just wasn't going to be able to do $30 a child and $20 per adult. I did feel bad about that. BUT I did pack these "favors" for the girls

2014 Lunches #83-102 Take It Tuesday

 #83-84

Bagels with herb cream cheese and turkey

Lettuce
Cucumber

Strawberries
Ginger Cat Crackers
Chocolate Chips

#85-86

On the left

Turkey
Clementine
Cucumber

Strawberries
Cheese
(that was my lunch)

On the right

Bagels with herb cream cheese and turkey

Lettuce
Cucumber

Strawberries
Ginger Cat Crackers
Chocolate Chips

 #87-89

Turkey Meatballs (Curry)
Nutella and Sunbutter wraps
Carrots

Cucumber

Clementines

Jell-o

#90-91

Potato Salad with Bacon

Banana

Cucumber

Molded Eggs

Goldfish crackers

Chocolate Chips
(Salt in the containers)

#92-94

Roasted chicken

Boiled egg

Sunflower seeds

Strawberries

Clementines

Potato salad

Cucumber slices 

 #95-96

Roasted Chicken (Here's a good recipe- Crock Pot Sweet Sticky Chicken)

Cheese

Cucumber
Mango
Strawberries
Chicken Sauce

#97-98

On the left

Strawberries

Banana

Cucumber

Cheese

Sunflower seeds

Mango

On the right

Plain yogurt

Mango

Strawberries

Cucumber slices

#99-102

Turkey, lettuce, cucumber wraps

Clementines

Cheese

Cucumber Slices

Most lunches are packed in Planetboxes

and Yumboxes , found HERE.

CUPPOW info found HERE.

I want to invite you all to share your lunches on my Facebook wall, Instagram (see hashtags below), Twitter, and in comments below.
Share your latest lunches- if you have a photo to upload, an Instagram post, a blog post. 

HASHTAGS- for Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Pinterest  #peasblog #TakeitTuesday
Or come and share you favorite lunch box recipe.
Please make sure you link to all recipes and credit sources. I will delete any recipes that have been cut and pasted. Please leave links only.

Also I would love if you used my affiliate links for purchases on these sites. It doesn't cost you extra, doesn't change your price, but it does help me out.

Here are some of my links 

 LINK for Pick Your Plum ( http://tracking.pickyourplum.com/SH58 )

 LINK for YUMBOX (http://www.yumboxlunch.com/idevaffiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=11 )

LINK for Zulily ( http://www.zulily.com/invite/kd489)
LINK for Planetbox ( http://planetbox.com/#oid=1017_1 )

Roasted Chicken and vegetables

This is a nice one pan meal. Easy, not a lot of clean up and kid friendly. OK most of it is kid friendly. I think I am coming to terms with the fact that Piglet doesn't like asparagus. OH well...
I used chicken thighs, I am not a big fan of white meat so I prefer them. If you are using breasts and other cuts just split them (the breasts) in half for more even cooking. Use a shallow roasting pan, as opposed to a deeper one (three inches deeper or more), this helps the chicken crisp up, deeper pans trap in heat. Of course if you are removing the skin then I guess it doesn't matter.

8-10 pieces of bone in chicken with the skin
3 tablespoons butter
4-5 carrots
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pound asparagus, trimmed
1 lemon cut into 8 wedges
5-6 springs fresh thyme, my garden is pitiful right now I found two sprigs and some rosemary.

* shallots would be great in this also, I didn't have any lying around*

Number one thing I should tell you NOT to do, don't use your gorgeous Polish pottery, get your shallow roasting pan out, don't be lazy, or you will crack your pottery. Not that I would know. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Slice the carrots into chunks, dot with half the butter.
Place it in oven for 15-20 minutes.





Trim the asparagus and cut into 2 inch pieces.







After the carrots are browned add chicken skin side up, salt and pepper it and tuck some rosemary in there also. If you are only using thyme don't add it yet, it's not as hearty as the rosemary it will burn. Roast for 20 minutes or until the chicken begins to brown.




Slice lemon into wedges...








Scatter herbs, asparagus and lemon in the roasting pan, add the rest of the butter.






Roast for 5-15 minutes until chicken is done and asparagus is tender. Serve with pan juices.

Easy Peasy Creamy Chicken with Roasted Vegetables

This is a recipe I got from MIL. I misplaced the actual recipe so I make it from memory- meaning this may not be the actual recipe she gave me but it's good and now I make it this way. The vegetables are tossed in a little olive oil, salt and pepper with a spring of rosemary then roasted in the oven.

Creamy Chicken
1 package of dry Italian dressing mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup- I know, I know what a sin
4 oz cream cheese
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil
1 package of mushrooms sliced- I use button
1 shallot sliced thin
1 clove garlic minced
5-6 chicken breasts

Season the chicken with salt and pepper, go easy on the salt- there's plenty in the soup.Brown chicken breasts in some olive oil. Don't cook them through. Remove and place in a crock pot. In the same pan add a little more olive oil. Saute shallot and garlic, add mushrooms. Cook until soft. Add soup, dressing mix and cheese. Cook until warm and cheese is melted. Pour over the chicken and cook on low for 3-4 hours. Serve chicken and sauce over rice with roasted vegetables.

Chicken Quesadillas with fresh roasted chilies

We had leftover Sweet N' Spicy Chicken, so I grilled some quesadillas and jalapeno poppers. These poppers don't have crab, and they were grilled so I didn't half them.

The girls LOVED this, the green chilies I got weren't spicy really so my oldest DD ate the quesadillas with the green chili, the younger girls ate up the ones I made without. I just realized that the one quesadilla I took pictures of was the one with leftover popper filling so it has a little cream cheese in it which made it so creamy and good. These can be made on the stove also.

GF/DF "cream of" soups and gravy starts here...

Oh my gosh people. I think this gravy is AMAZING. Really it is. By pure accident I made it. It's INCREDIBLE. It's actually healthy, okay perhaps it's not a health food, but it's gravy. THICK, creamy, flavorful gravy. No flour, no grain, and no dairy. Stay with me here. I promise you it's good.
This gravy came about when I was making Easter dinner. DH was frying up a turkey, we have this oil-less fryer that catches the juices as it drips from the turkey. U-MA-MI. I decided I was going to make a cauliflower/potato mash. I steamed the cauliflower until very tender. Threw it in the Vitamix with a tablespoon of butter and some stock. Whirled it up, and it became this SMOOTH consistency that reminded me of gravy! WHAT?! Did you all know this? I bet you all knew this, and nobody told me? I doctored it up some more and we had a YUM YUM gravy. I didn't season the turkey at all before DH fried it so this left wiggle room to season the gravy like I wanted.
When I made steak fingers, I used pan drippings to flavor my gravy and it was perfect! No one said it tasted funny or anything. I finally told DH it was cauliflower, he couldn't tell. But they all loved the gravy!

More GPAC on ChowStalker.
 Find me on ChowStalker.

Oven Roasted Crispy Chicken Thighs

These Crispy Chicken Thighs are much like the ones posted HERE, the only difference is that I was too lazy to de-bone them and I didn't want to fry them on the stove splattering grease. So I put them in the oven. It worked beautifully. I love cooking chicken with the skin on then cranking up the heat to get a good crispy skin. So follow the link or scroll on down for the recipe.
This chicken is Whole 30/Paleo/Primal compliant that means it's also sugar, dairy, and gluten free. Because I serve it to my kiddo it's also nut free.

Processing Groceries/Shortcuts/Freezing

I thought I would share some things I do before/after grocery shopping to make my week go a little easier. I don't wash and cut everything up but I do try to take the time and process items to make things go smoother or help items last longer.  These tips may not work for everyone, but might for some! (If you use coupons and are good with that, awesome. Don't forget to take them with you, I'm horrible about that.)

1. Make a menu. For all meals- including lunches to pack, snacks and have a leftover night. When planning a menu, I keep in mind that my family doesn't really like leftovers.  So I plan meals that I can use leftovers in or make extra of items to put in the next nights dinner as a shortcut. Examples- roasting peppers? Roast extra, peel and have ready for the rest of the week. Roasting a chicken? Plan a soup for the leftover meat and bones. That way, you're using the bones for stock right away and you don't have 4 bags of roasted chicken carcasses in your freezer waiting for stock day, not that I know anything about that. Making something with ground beef? Brown a couple extra packages. I did this last night. I browned three packages of ground beef. I made two batches of Red Sauce and one batch of taco meat. We had baked Ziti last night, I froze a batch of sauce for later and tonight we'll have tacos. Grilling chicken or meat? Grill extra for sandwiches/wraps/to top salads. Making a roast? Pork or beef- you can shred the extra meat for burritos or soups. (Anytime I can make extra of something to freeze that won't change the flavor or texture later, I do it. Waffles, pancakes, muffins, flash freezing cookie dough etc. If it won't freeze well but will keep for a couple days, I put it in the fridge until needed.)
2. Meats- if there is a good deal on meats or family packs, I'll buy them. Make sure you have freezer bags, paper or food sealer bags and a sharpie- I puffy heart sharpies. Today it was chicken. I got 2 huge packs of chicken breasts on sale and 2 packs of drumsticks. I divided them into 6 bags with enough servings for a meal. A couple of the bags I labeled and put in the freezer as is. For the remaining bags, I put marinades into them, labeled them and put them in the freezer. I marinaded some with a quick Sesame Ginger sauce and the others I use Italian dressing and a Tomato basil marinade. For a quick meal, I let a bag of chicken thaw in the fridge overnight, then grill/broil/roast. Easy.  I also got a deal on a meatloaf mixture of veal, pork and beef so I'll make two meat loaves one night for dinner and freeze the other for later. Nothing has to go to waste because if it does you're wasting money! Believe me I know about this, I'm horrible with vegetables going bad.
3. Vegetables, fruit and herbs. I don't pre cut vegetables for the week. I do find that wrapping my herbs or leafy vegetables like spinach in a paper towel makes them last a lot longer. The only time I cut vegetables is when I have time the night before I need them for a stir fry or  a roast. If certain items are on sale like mushrooms I'll buy them, saute them in butter, freeze in bags and they are ready for a sauce or meal later. One thing that helps me is making a list of what I have and putting it on the fridge. Whatever fresh veggies and fruit I have I make a list and check it through out the week. Because I end up buying extra for snacks and I forget we have them. If you have berries, apples/fruit that is really ripe and you aren't using it freeze it. It can be put in a smoothie later. For berries wash them and lay them on a cookie sheet to freeze. Once frozen put them in a bag to store. Peaches, apples and bigger fruit should be cut up, if you want toss in some lemon juice and water. Freeze like you would the berries. Ripe bananas can be frozen whole and thawed for banana breads/ pancakes/muffins/cakes later, they will be watery when thawed but are perfect for cooking with. Herbs can be cut up and put into an ice cube tray with water and frozen. Throw cubes into sauces when needed. You can also dry herbs if have more than you are going to use. (For a fun snack cut bananas and freeze them with grapes, berries and other fruits in a cookie sheet. Once frozen put them in little bags for a fun frozen treat.) 
4. I also soak some of my fruit and veggies in a vinegar/water mix, let them dry, then put them away. This helps kills mold spores and everything lasts longer.
5. If I buy cereal I put it into the containers I have, break down the boxes/bags and recycle. Same for any packaging, flour, sugar etc, there's so much excess!
6. Use what you have. I'm working on this and getting better. Check the deep freeze and the pantry. Plan meals around what you have, then go BACK and double check to see if you already have lentils, oats or whatever- hiding out somewhere.
7. KNOW what you have. Make a list of items you have in your freezer. I use a wipe board. List what you have and cross it off/erase it when used. That way it's easy to tell what you have and how much without having to open it up and digging through everything. I also make a list of fresh produce so I know what I need to use. On that list I put snacks for the kids that are in the fridge- carrots, apples, cheese etc. So if they ask for something I have options for them.
8. Go grocery shopping before the weekly trash/recycling pick up. That way when you repackage items, or take things out of boxes you can clear that clutter and have it curbside right away.
9. I'm sure I'm missing something but there you go, that's what I do

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My version of Pasta Milano

You can't go wrong with pasta, cream, pancetta, garlic and cheese can you? Don't answer that, I know the answer. Of course you can't. I love garlic cream sauces and this one is YUMMY. Don't let the amount of garlic scare you away, it's roasted so it's mild and just yummmmm. The girls love this everything in it, the peas, the chicken the mushrooms the will eat it all. Well, except when I add capers, I love capers I am the only one in this house that likes capers and artichoke hearts in this dish, oh well. You really should use a short pasta for this dish, but I am trying to clear out the pantry so I am using whatever we've got on hand to cook with.

Give Peas A Chance Pasta Milano

Chicken-
4 Chicken breasts
garlic powder
salt
pepper

Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Grill chicken or broil it until it is cooked through. Set aside so it can rest.



The Sauce-
1 pint of heavy cream
3 cups milk (more if you want more sauce.)
1 1/2 heads of garlic roasted *see picture*
pepper
salt
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Other stuff-
2 tablespoons butter
frozen baby peas
1 lb baby bellas or other mushrooms you like, sliced
- if you'd like marinated artichoke hearts

Garnish-
fresh parsley
Parmesan cheese
capers
pancettea- cooked to a crisp *see picture*

a box of short pasta


Method-
Cook the pasta until al dente. Drain.
In a big saucepan cook the pancetta until crisp. Remove and set aside. Keep the fat in the pan and add the butter. Saute the mushrooms in the saucepan until soft. Remove the mushrooms.
Place all the ingredients for the sauce in a blender and puree. Put cream mixture into the sauce pan and bring just to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until thick. Mix in the peas, mushrooms and pasta. Toss to coat.
To serve- slice chicken and place on top of pasta. Garnish with pancetta and other garnishes.

Roasted garlic- cut off the top of a head of garlic, place in some tin foil and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil and roast it in the oven. Once it's done the garlic will squeeze right out of the skin.

I heart pork fat...
MMMM baby bellas...

Green Chile Corn Chowder

I'm not sure I've ever made Corn Chowder before. This chowder was quite the gamble for me. It has both potatoes and corn kernels in it. I've tried to stay away from anything with corn kernels because the children don't really like just kernels, but they love corn on the cob. It's only recently that they have been eating potatoes (white/yellow) also. Unless it was fries/chips, mashed and drenched in gravy, or butter stewed they weren't too interested in potatoes. They love my Best Baked Potatoes now, and will eat oven roasted potatoes if they are seasoned well and crisp on the outside. I just never make a big deal about foods that don't have much nutritional value, and while white potatoes have some, they really are just starch. That, and I'm not a fan of potatoes either. Whoa... life story there. Sorry. Moving on. This chowder is just a little spicy, it's easy to make, even my children ate it! I can't say they loved it and asked for seconds, but potatoes and corn kernels you know? The bacon helped :P 

I wish I had fresh Hatch Chiles here but I don't. Last year I found some locally. No such luck this year, and I'm not sure I want to order online yet. Who knows. I may cave. As per the notes below use your favorite chiles. I found Hatch Chiles canned.
Make this chowder for those cool Fall and Winter nights that are coming quickly! It's a quick weeknight meal.