another soup day

The days are shorter now and the crispness comes under the door as we dig for coats and heavy sweaters. My upstairs hallway is lined with the "winter tubs", as I call them, and we are accessing what things to put away for yet another warm time and which things to save, hoping for Indian summer.

Much of the midwestern crop is harvested and we talk of baking squash and making chili. I pour over cookbooks in search of the perfect stuffing recipe for Thanksgiving, knowing I will most likely make it the way I have done for 30 years and the way my mother made it 30 years before that.

Here is an old standby recipe, a soup I dreamed up one day when I didn't have meat thawed for dinner and I knew everyone would want their tummies warmed when they came inside. Nothing is better than this delicious soup served up with bread sticks on a cold November day. I especially like to put it in the crock pot for the afternoon so the flavors can blend.

Karen’s Corn Chowder

1 pound frozen or fresh corn
1 cup butter
1 cup flour
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped green pepper
1 cup finely chopped red pepper
4 cups potatoes, boiled, drained and cubed
4 cups milk
2 cups reserved water from boiled potatoes

In pot, sauté onion and pepper in butter over medium heat. When vegetables are translucent, add flour and mix well. Pour in milk and cook until bubbly and thick, stirring continually. Add boiled potato water. Add corn and heat through. I like to place the soup in a crock pot at this point and let it sit on low for several hours so the flavors can blend.