Birthday Chowder

Yesterday I had planned Indian food for my birthday dinner. On Monday though it was cool enough to bake, so I had baked up a pair of loaves of bread, and there was one sitting on the counter yesterday when I woke. It seemed a shame to not utilize that bread at it's freshest, and since it was cool and grey out, I decided I was in the mood for soup. I've been meaning to attempt a chowder of sorts for an upcoming feature in the paper, and I decided that yesterday was the day.

So I went through the fridge, freezer and pantry to see what I could come up with. I found an onion, garlic, wild rice, potatoes, and dried herbs in the pantry. Then I found bacon and plenty of chicken stock in the freezer, and then some 2 year old white cheddar, mushrooms, and milk in the fridge. I was set to make myself a Wild Rice and Cheddar Chowder. It ended up taking a bit of tweaking, adding a little more of this, a trip out to the fresh rosemary plant, and then the final addition of some leftover chicken before it was perfect. Abigail took the first bite- "mmm, this soup is really good Mommy!" so then Zander dipped his spoon in-"mmm, look Mommy, I caught some bacon on my spoon- yummy!" Andy and I looked at each other. Let's face it, my kids just don't go ga-ga for soup. Especially one that is loaded with mushrooms and wild rice. So then Andy dug in and kind of looked at me, "this is really good." I kinda shrugged it off and said it was a little more complicated than I had wanted. And his reply was that he didn't care if I literally slaved all day over the stove- I needed to write this one down and make it again.

Lol. It was very good. I was a little surprised that it went over so well. Abigail did eventually discover the mushrooms and then proceeded to pick them out of the soup, but then went back and ate plenty more- despite the fact that the soup was packed with mushroom flavor. I did manage to streamline the recipe as I wrote it down, so it really isn't as complicated if you do the steps in order. Sorry, no picture today. It didn't really occur to me to take one, and this soup isn't particularly photogenic without some treatment with a garnish or fancy plating. And yesterday just wasn't about being fancy. But the Wild Rice and Cheddar Chowder was truly delicious.

Today I need to tackle the mountain of pears in my kitchen- I have no idea what will become of them, I'm off to hunt in a few minutes for some pear muffins or quick breads or something that I can freeze. But tomorrow I'll have a decadent new way to eat pears to share...pudding cake anyone?

And before you take off- be sure to swing my Kids Cuisine this morning to check out my review of what is hands down, the best cookbook for children I have ever seen. Abigail will be cooking out of it soon- so check it out.