DELICIOUS CHICKEN BACON CORN CHOWDER

Steps:

• 1 - Place 2-3 large boneless chicken breasts in a large stock pot. Add enough water to cover chicken by about 1 inch above the meat. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a slow simmer until tender (45 mins - 1hr should suffice). Remove chicken & let cool. Once cool, medium dice chicken and set aside. Measure your remaining liquid from the pot in a measuring cup. How much liquid you have remaining depends on various things. I usually have around 2 - 3 cups of broth remaining. Add additional chicken stock to what you have to equal a total of 8 cups of liquid (You can use bouillon cubes or chicken base to make up the remaining stock if you'd like).
• 2 - Medium dice 1 large sweet white onion. Finely dice 3 cloves of garlic. On low to medium heat saute onions until translucent in color (do NOT brown), then add garlic & cook 1-2 additional minutes. Set aside.
• 3 - Peel & medium dice 8-10 potatoes of your choice. Must equal 8 cups of potatoes total.
• 4 - In your stock pot you should have 8 cups of stock waiting. Now add the 8 cups of diced potatoes, diced bacon, diced chicken, seasoning salt, white pepper & cayenne. Bring to a boil then reduce to a medium simmer until potatoes are tender.
• 5 - Once your potatoes are tender, mash up about 1/3-1/2 in the pot to help thicken the soup and to give contrast in texture. Now you can add the frozen or fresh (precooked) corn.
• 6 - Next add 2 - 8oz packages of room temperature cream cheese to soup. Room temp is very important in preventing curdling! Keep soup on low heat (stirring often) until all the cream cheese has melted. Taste test to make sure your seasonings are how you like them.
• 7 - Garnish the top of each bowl you serve with a bit of shredded sharp cheddar (orange type works nicely for color contrast but not mandatory), some of the finely chopped crispy bacon bits you have set aside & a bit of small diced green onion.
• **If you'd like a thicker soup you may use a roux or a slurry made from cornstarch & water.
• *** Please take note: creole seasoning is not Cajun seasoning! I prefer Tony Chacheres, Zatarains, or Paul Prudhomme's Creole seasoning salts.
• **** Delicious served in a warm bread bowl!