Corn chowder with broccoli and bacon

The biggest challenge in getting weekday dinners together is not really so much in making the dinner itself, but actually knowing what to cook. I have for years now diligently planned my entire week's menu every Saturday before heading out to the stores. It's just easier to tackle dinner preparations when you know what you have to do when you get home from work to feed a ravenous family.  Of course, we don't follow strictly to the menu and have abandon some less exciting ones for a less stressful evening at a restaurant or take-out once in a while. The abandoned meals often get carried over to the next week, and if I find that after two weeks it still hasn't been made, it gets dropped and likely will never get put on again until I am desperate for ideas. Planning your meals every week not only saves you time, it also saves money. If there's a special ingredient that doesn't get used up for a particular recipe this week, I will make sure it gets used up next week for a different dish so there's less waste. In an event it is an ingredient I don't have or want to buy, then I simply substitute with something else. In addition, it allows you to see at a glance whether your meal plans are healthful and balanced. Lastly, meal planning also reduces the daily stress of wondering what you are going to eat for dinner every day - I only do it once a week! 

Oh, I do ask the other family members for input when making the list. I like to accomodate everyone's favourite or cravings. Plus, it makes my job all the easier. It's not a job really as I do enjoy looking through recipe books, serve the web and check out other people's food blogs for ideas.

Corn chowder is a family favourite. My child eats potatoes and corn! He did ask me if I could pick out the onion, to which I said no and he ate it all anyway. I guess you can win sometimes :). Today's featured recipe is taken from the current issue of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. I made it as per instructions, but will definitely omit the thyme the next time. I took out a serving before adding the broccoli and thyme so I didn't have to pick them out later for a certain someone. We had freshly baked garlic loaves with it.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

4 slices of bacon, cut up

1 medium onion, chopped

1/4 cup of flour

2 cans of reduced sodium chicken broth

1 large russet potato, diced

2 heads of broccoli (about 1 lb) cut into bite size florets, stems peeled and diced

1 pkg (10 oz) frozen corn

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 cup whole milk

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Cook bacon over medium-low heat until crisp. Remove with slotted spoon and save.  Increase heat to medium and saute onions until soften. Add flour; cook, stirring constantly for 30 sec. Add broth and potato; bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook until potatoes are tender (about 10 min). Add broccoli, thyme, corn and milk. Cook until broccoli is crisp tender (8-10 min). Season with salt and peper. Serve topped with bacon.

PS: The title of the recipe was actually Broccoli chowder with corn and bacon. I think corn was the bigger star in the dish.