One Pot Bacon Potato Corn Chowder Soup – No Flour!

Chris-budgetpantry — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 06:55:22 +0000

Everyone’s under the weather these days, if not for COVID, then the usual sore throat, cough, runny nose… it IS flu season anyway. Cbb and I are both down with sore throat (too much snacks me thinks), but we’re testing every two days just to be safe. She’s not the easiest kid when it comes to doing the ART. Tears start streaming even before we insert the swab stick! The whole family can be doing it with her and I’ve honestly memorised ALL the ‘tips to performing an ART on your kid’ already and nothing works. I really don’t geddit.

I decided to think of better things by thinking what to cook for dinner. Step one was to picture what I already have in the fridge/freezer/cupboard/storeroom so I don’t have to spend money to order more ingredients while I havent used what I have. And so I remembered I have a pack of no-nitrates no chemicals/preservatives bacon from Jill’s Sausages in my freezer. But since I was going to blog, I couldn’t possibly cook bacon and pasta and call it a day. So since everyone’s not feeling too good, a bowl of comforting bacon potato corn chowder sounds really nice, I think!

And here’s how to make it – no flour needed! Best part? It cooks in one pot for incredibly easy washing up. Check out my other soup recipes.

Homemade Bacon Potato Corn Chowder Soup – no flour! (budgetpantry.com)
Makes 1-2 servings

What you need:

800g potatoes (about 4 medium sized, cubed)
2 large yellow onions, chopped
8-10 tbsps corn kernals (I used frozen)
12 slices no-nitrates bacon, sliced into 1-cm pieces
1 can evaporated milk (320-330ml doesn’t matter)
1 litre water
3 tbsps concentrated chicken stock (I used Woh Hup)
1 tbsp garlic powder (or use 3 cloves minced garlic)
1 tsp salt
4-5 sprigs spring onions, divide white and green parts and slice thinly
Black pepper

Steps:

In a large pot on medium heat, cook bacon for 6-8 mins until crisped. No need to add any oil.

Once crispy remove bacon pieces and leave the grease in the pot.

Add chopped onions and white part of spring onion. Fry for 5 mins until translucent. Add minced garlic (if using this. If using garlic powder, see next step). Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add the corn, potatoes, garlic powder, salt, water and concentrated chicken stock.

Bring to boil and lower heat. Simmer until potatoes are fork tender (but not super mushy), about 20 minutes. Turn off the flame.

Using a hand-held blender, blend soup until your preferred consistency. I like to leave a few pieces of potato chunks for some bite. Add the evaporated milk, bacon and green part of spring onions and stir through.

Finish with a dash of black pepper if you like. Serve with warm crusty bread!

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Tip: Can you do this without a hand held blender? Yes, if you can transfer the soup to a stand blender, it works too. Can you do this without ANY type of blender? Well yes, but you need to cook the potatoes till they’re mashed and even so, the consistently won’t be as creamy because you’ll get small onion and corn pieces. Not a problem if you don’t mind it though. Let me know how it goes!

The post One Pot Bacon Potato Corn Chowder Soup – No Flour! appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

Almost low carb lunch idea: Chili Stew

Chris-budgetpantry — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 14:46:13 +0000

I pack lunches to work on weekdays and plan my weekly menu the previous week, the same time as I order fruits, vegetables, fish and meat online. As I add items to my cart, I think of what to cook for lunch and dinner, and when to cook what, i.e., I use up the more perishable stuff, like salads, for breakfasts or lunches on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and cook the iron-rich leafy greens (spinach, puay leng, cai xin) in soups for early-week dinners. I then leave cabbages, kale, broccoli and cauliflower for the later part of the week, to be used in colourful stir fries. I normally plan daily meals, but sometimes, all I want to do is cook a big pot of chili stew.

I love cooking stews because you just cook everything in a pot, leave it to simmer, and your lunch or dinner (for the next few days) are ready. I cook a few versions, including creamy chicken stews with potatoes and carrots, and tomato-based vegetable stews. And this one, ground meat stew with vegetables and kidney beans, topped with cheddar. This CAN BE low carb – just leave out the kidney beans. I used pork, but please use ground beef for the best flavour.

I often cook this on Sundays so we can have it for Sunday dinner and I have lunches ready for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I think three days is the max you can keep this in the fridge. And in case you haven’t realised, I can eat the same stuff for days on end, as long as I’m in my health nut mode and the food is good for me. For this recipe, I used red onions, celery and tomatoes as my base. I love stewed celery.. isn’t it funny how celery tastes awful raw (to me at least!), but when slow cooked in a stew, it breaks down to be one of the most delicious things ever, like a cross between radish and onion? I also added cabbage, bell peppers and canned tomatoes, along with ground meat and stock (use beef stock if you can), plus kidney beans towards the end.

Chili doesn’t normally use this much vegetables, focusing instead on the meat and onions. But too much meat isn’t my thing and cabbage fills you up plus lends a sweetness to the stew.

The best way to eat this is with some shredded cheddar (I used cheddar singles as I didn’t have the grated ones, and that’s ok – and cheaper) and sour cream. I didn’t have sour cream (full fat FTW) so I left it out. For some colour, I topped the stew with hand-shredded spring onions. Not essential, but quite good.

With assignments at work leaving me with no time to think (this is a busy time for me and all I want to do after work is clear my brain but I end up catching up on news – especially electoral news nowadays – online), I think chili stew will be my answer to packed lunches for the coming week! Like gumbo, I know every family has their favourite version of chili. Please share yours with me!

Almost low carb Chili Stew (budgetpantry.com)

Serves: 6-8
Total cost per serving: $2.03

What you need:

2 medium purple onions, diced
2 bell peppers (any colour), diced
5-6 stalks celery, diced
¾ to 1 small Beijing cabbage, chopped (depending on the size of your pot)
300 g ground meat (pork or beef, preferably beef)
2 fresh tomatoes, diced
1 can ripe tomatoes
1 can kidney beans
2 bayleaves
200 g bacon, diced (optional)
Enough beef/chicken stock to cover all the ingredients
2 tablespoons Olive oil
Grated cheddar and sour cream to serve

Steps:

In a large pot, heat up the olive oil and fry the bacon (if using), onions, bell peppers and celery til starting to turn soft.

Make a hole in the centre and add the ground meat. Break it up as much as you can with your spatula or wooden spoon. When the meat changes colour, top with cabbage, followed by canned and fresh tomatoes. Cook til it comes together. Stir occasionally.

Fill pot with beef or chicken stock. Bring to boil then turn down the flame. Add the kidney beans and let the stew simmer for 25-30 minutes til thick.

Serve with cheddar cheese and sour cream.

How much I spent:

$0.60 for onions
$2 for bell peppers
$1 for celery
$1.20 for cabbage
$2.95 for ground meat
$0.60 for tomatoes
$1.55 for canned tomatoes
$2.45 for kidney beans
$3.95 for bacon
Everything else from my pantry

The post Almost low carb lunch idea: Chili Stew appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

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One Pot Bacon Potato Corn Chowder Soup – No Flour!

Almost low carb lunch idea: Chili Stew