What's for Dinner? 1/17/09 Smoky Roasted Chicken and Corn Chowder

This one was a little out of the box for us. We don't normally have soup as a main dinner meal. Joe thought it looked good and said, 'What the heck' and made it for dinner tonight. It's different but really good!

Smoky Roasted Chicken and Corn Chowder
Servings - 6

WW pts - 5/serving
From Healthy Cooking Magazine  


Ingredients:

• 4 slices of bacon, chopped (we used turkey bacon which lowers the fat content even more!)
• 1 cup diced onions 
• 1/2 cup each of diced celery and bell pepper ***
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 1/2 tbsp minced fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 can (12oz) 2% evaporated milk (we used FF evaporated with no issues)
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, well drained *** - and see NOTE Below.
• 1 can (14.5oz) cream-style corn
• 2 cups chopped roasted chicken breast (you can buy a rotisserie chicken and remove the skin and use the breast meat)
• 1 tbsp hickory-flavored bbq sauce
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt (or to taste)

1. Cook chopped bacon in large, non-stick soup pot over medium-high heat until slightly brown (not crispy). Stir in onions, celery, red pepper and garlic. Cook and stir until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes.


2. Add thyme and flour. Mix well. Stir in broth and evaporated milk. Bring mixture to a gentle boil and stir continuously until soup thickens slightly.


3. Reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and let simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve hot.


NOTE - To drain, empty canned tomatoes into a sieve and press down to remove as much liquid as possible. You want the tomato chunks, not their juice, which would make the soup bitter.



*** We omitted these since Joe does not like these veggies. 

Nutritional Information: Per serving: 270 calories, 7.1g fat, 24 g protein, 30 g carbs, 3 g fiber, 53 mg cholesterol, 619 mg sodium