Crabby Day Soup

Another Tuesday, another morning at the doc's office. This time I left with far less needle sticks, so I was in a much better mood than last week, but still feeling the sting. I dropped off my prescriptions at the Target by my house and figured I may as well pick up milk and cooking spray there, rather than run out somewhere else. I also picked up a foil packet of crab meat, which I'd never noticed anywhere before, figuring that I could throw something together with it to make lunch. The weather here is dreary to say the least right now, so on the way home I decided to make soup. It's great weather for it right now, chilly and rainy and the kind of day best spent curled up with a blanket and a book. A perfect day for a soup lunch. When I got home I found my roommate's sister in the middle of removing some of her furniture from the house, so once all the hustle and bustle was over with I was more than ready to settle down with a bowl. I've been craving chowder for a few days, so potatoes were the first obvious ingredient. I had some corn from trader joe's, which is always a good pairing with crab and a bunch of asparagus as well. Everything was chopped and drained and thrown into a pot and out came a pretty decent soup, if I do say so myself. I wanted it a little lighter than a cream-based chowder, so this one is thickened a bit with some smashed up potato and finished with a little milk. I made mine with a little bit of a kick to it, but if you're making it and planning on sharing it, you may be better off just spiking your bowl with pepper sauce instead of the whole pot. I would LOVE to have some crackers with this, but the gluten-free cornbread my mom picked up was alright. Regular cornbread would go well, as would toast or crusty bread.

Crab and Corn Chowder

Ingredients:
-3-4 red potatoes of middling size, cubed, enough to make about 2 1/2 cups
-2 1/2 cups water
-2 chicken bouillon cubes or a spoonful of paste bouillon
-1 can of corn, drained or 1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
-1/3 bunch of asparagus, trimmed and cut in to 1 inch pieces
-1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
-3.5 oz foil pack of crab meat, drained (about 2.5 ounces dry)
-fresh ground black pepper to taste
-1/4 teaspoon pepper sauce
-1 teaspoon butter or butter substitute
-2 tablespoons light cream cheese
-1 cup milk
-Old Bay (optional)

Directions:
Put potatoes, water and bouillon in a medium sized pot and bring to a boil. Cook until potatoes are tender, about ten minutes or so depending on how small the potatoes are cut. When potatoes are starting to get soft, mash a few chunks against the side of the pot and stir to thicken the broth. Add the asparagus, corn, crab meat, nutmeg, pepper sauce and black pepper and simmer for another 8 minutes or so, until asparagus is cooked to your liking. Stir in the butter and cream cheese, making sure the cream cheese is melted and incorporated. Add the milk and taste for seasoning, adding more pepper sauce, nutmeg or black pepper as desired. Alternately, you could add a little bit of Old Bay seasoning.

Notes:
-This could very easily make a vegetarian corn chowder if you sub vegetarian bouillon for the chicken base and skip the crab meat.
-Don't add lemon to this unless you plan on omitting the milk. I've done it before. It will curdle. It will be too nasty looking to eat.
-You could get the creamy chowder by using things other than milk and butter, such as a dollop of yogurt at the end. However, if you do opt to use yogurt, do NOT add it when the soup is still boiling and don't expect it to reheat well. It can curdle when heated too high, so if you do opt to use yogurt, make the soup and only add yogurt to the portion you'll be eating if you won't be using it all at once. I prefer greek yogurt when doing this, as it's not quite as tangy as some of the other kinds and less overwhelming when mixed into soup.