I love soups in the winter, and today looks like a good soup day: grey and cold.

I especially love potato soups (like any of the kinds McAlister’s Deli has. No, this is not a paid ad. 🙂 ) I’ve collected a number of potato soup recipes but haven’t tried any of them yet — except this one, because it is quick. I found it in a Quick Cooking magazine (now called Simple and Delicious) (one of Taste of Home’s spinoffs). It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s good.

Corny Potato Chowder

4 bacon strips, diced
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 can (15 oz.) whole potatoes, drained and diced
2 cups milk
1 can (14 – 3/4 oz.) cream-style corn
1/2 tsp. garlic
1/8 tsp. pepper

In a large saucepan, cook the bacon and onion until bacon is almost crisp; drain. Add potatoes; saute for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the milk, corn, garlic salt, and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, until heated through. Yield: 4-6 servings.

I use the already-cooked-just-microwave bacon (we don’t use bacon very often, so that works well for us), then just mix all the other ingredients together and heat through. I don’t use that much onion either — more like a tablespoon of minced onion. And I use garlic powder rather than garlic salt and just add a few sprinkles of salt. I also buy the already diced canned potatoes.

We were talking about low-fat, low-calorie eating earlier this week — and this probably would not fit into that category. It would help to make it with skim or 1 % milk, and I’m sure not sauteing the potatoes in bacon grease helps a little as well.