Potato Corn Chowder--A Gluten-Free, Vegetarian Warmer-Upper Recipe

I'm not a vegetarian myself, but my grandmother was, and I believe this recipe is one of hers. I learned it from her oldest daughter, my aunt Bertha.

Potato Corn Chowder Recipe (Gluten-Free and Meat-Free)

Images: iClipart

Ingredients:

• 1 14-oz. can of creamed corn
• 1 garlic clove
• 4 potatoes, peeled
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 1/2 small yellow onion, diced
• 14 oz. of cold milk (just use the creamed corn can to measure)
• 1 tbsp. potato starch flour
• 1 tbsp. rice flour (brown or white)
• 1 tsp. (that's right tsp. not Tbsp.) tapioca flour
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Cube the potatoes and boil them until tender. Drain and set aside.
2. In a 2-qt. sauce pan, mix creamed corn, garlic (minced), carrot bits, onion, and most of the milk.
3.With about 1/4 cup of the milk leftover, mix all three gluten-free flours--potato starch, rice flour, and tapioca flour--into the milk until they're no longer lumpy. This will be your thickener. Set it aside for now. But when the time comes, only use as much as you feel you need.
4. Place corn mixture on the stove and heat it slowly and evenly (medium low temperature or medium, depending on your stove), stirring pretty much constantly to keep milk from burning to the bottom. Once corn mixture is warm, add spuds.
5. Gradually add thickener (milk and flour mixture). Cook until the potatoes are warm inside and the soup is thick enough to your taste.

If you want to make this a non-vegetarian dish, just add chopped ham or cooked bacon bits to the soup when you add the spuds.

This soup is a yummy way to warm up the whole family on a cold December afternoon. It makes about 4 bowls of chowder. It goes great with garlic toast, corn meal muffins, or Glutino crackers.

Next week I'll post my instructions on how to make garlic toast on a cookie sheet with 1/2 gluten-free toast and 1/2 gluten-normal toast. That was a tricky thing to figure out when I first got started cooking GF.