For the lovely Andrina

My friend Dri and I were chatting the other day. We were thinking maybe the two of us needed a Dri and Loosey do the U.K. trip next summer. I've never been, and well, she was born there and went to University there, so... I'd have an instant guide. 

She was reading my blog during our chat and in the middle she stumbled across some items I've been cooking. One of them was Chicken & Corn Chowder from Williams & Sonoma's "Weeknight" cookbook (pretty much a bunch of recipes you can make in 30 minutes or less). 

She asked if it was low fat and I laughed. But then I finally made the sucker tonight, and learned that she can poke me in the nose the next time she sees me, because just by being me, I managed to make it "lower fat" than the original recipe. It was good enough for me to post, even if X-man only ate the pre-requisite five spoonfuls in order to get more fruit snacks. 

So here it is... I'll put the original ingredients in brackets next to the ones I used, in case there are any purists out there.

Ingredients

Turkey bacon (4 slices, chopped) [4 slices regular bacon]

Red bell pepper, 1 large, seeded and chopped

Frozen or fresh corn kernels (4 cups/1.5 pounds)

Yukon Gold Potatoes (3/4 pound, cut into 1/2-inch chunks)

Vegetable broth (3 cups) [3 cups Chicken broth]

Dry white wine (1/2 cup or 4 oz)

Skinless, boneless, chicken thighs (3/4 lb, cut into 1/2 inch chunks)

Green onions (6, white and pale green parts thinly sliced)

Fresh thyme (3 tablespoons, minced)

Fat Free Half-and-half (2.5 cups or 20 oz) [Real Half-in-half, 20 oz]

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. In a deep saucepan over medium heat, fry the bacon until crisp (5 min). Transfer onto paper towels when done and pour out any drippings.

2. Add the pepper, corn and potatoes to the same saucepan. Cook, stirring frequently, until the peppers are just softened and the corn and potatoes are lightly tinged with gold, 4-5 minutes.

Add the broth and the wine, bring to a boil and cover. Cook until potatoes are almost tender, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken and cook, covered until it is opaque throughout, 5-7 minutes.

3. Stir in the green onions, thyme and half and half. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, uncovered until heated through (around 3 minutes). Season with salt and pepper, then ladle the chowder into the bowls and sprinkle the bacon on top.

Serves 4. Supposedly takes 30 minutes, but with a toddler underfoot it took 50 minutes.