Roasted Corn Chowder

In my obsessive attempt to recreate my favorite Whole Foods Soup, I stumbled across this recipe and tried it. I made a couple of mistakes. First, I started it, in the hopes that it could be done for my family while I was away late at work. Second, I used Trader Joe's Hearty Vegetable Broth. There is nothing wrong with this broth, it just lends itself to a lentil soup, or even a barley mushroom, but not a delicate corn chowder.

Today I changed it up, and while I was delighted by the result, the boys were less thrilled. Then again, they are not soup or stew kids, so I have to take their rating with a grain of salt.

1 16 oz. bag of frozen corn

1 medium onion

1 Red Bell Pepper

5 Potatoes (regular Idaho spuds)

1 1/2 Quarts Swanson's Vegetable Stock

1/2 Pint Heavy Cream

Salt & Pepper

Spread corn out on cookie sheet (this works better on a sheet pan with sides), and place under the broiler until brown. Turn the corn a few times while broiling. While this is browning, dice the onion and bell pepper and saute on med-high until the onion is a bit brown. Peel and roughly cube the potatoes. Add Onion, Pepper, Potatoes and Corn to the crock pot. Add vegetable stock to about 2 inches from the top. (you'll need the room later, trust me) Cook in crock pot on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-9 hours. After this has cooked and the potatoes are tender, pull out about a cup of the corn - this is easy with a hand held strainer, as the corn will be floating on the top. Use your immersion blender (aka boat motor) and blend the soup. Stir the remaining corn into the soup. Leave on low until ready to serve. When ready to serve, add the heavy cream and mix. Season to taste. I ended up adding some sugar as the corn I used wasn't particularly sweet. Alternately, you could used creamed corn instead of the heavy cream, and it might give you a sweeter taste. I'm going to try that next time! I'd suggest serving with a nice whole wheat baguette, but I wasn't running to the bakery, so we went with wheat toast.