South-of-the-Border Chowder

Cammie posted this recipe on her blog a little while ago. I made it for dinner tonight and my family loved it. So, I thought I'd pass it on. I'm excited to have my leftovers tomorrow. Cammie said that it is even better the next day.

1/2 C Chopped Onion
4 Bacon Strips....or more if you like bacon a lot... substitute turkey bacon for lower fat grams.
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 package (32 oz) frozen Southern-style hash brown potatoes
2 cans (14-1/2 oz each) chicken broth
1 can (14-3/4 oz) cream style corn
1 can (11 oz) Mexicorn, drained
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilis
1/4 cup pearl onion
Sour cream and minced fresh cilantro, optional

In a soup kettle, saute onion and bacon until onion is tender and bacon is crisp. Stir in flour, cumin, chili powder and garlic powder. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute or until thickened.

Stir in the hash browns, broth, cream corn, Mexicorn, chilis and pearl onions. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes or until heated through. Garnish with sour cream and cilantro if desired.

Yield: 10 servings or 2-1/2 quarts.

You can make this in a crock pot too. Just cook the bacon as instructed, them dump all the ingredients into a crock pot and set it on a medium heat setting for about 3 hours.

Nutritional Analysis: 1 cup (without additional toppings) equals 197 calories, 6 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 6 mg cholesterol, 756 mg sodium ( you can cut the sodium WAY down by using low sodium chicken broth), 34 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 6 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 2 starch, 1 vegetable.

**I substituted potatoes from Vaughn & Maianne's garden instead of the hashbrowns. I just boiled them seperately for a little while before I added it to the soup.