Salmon Chowder

I got salmon out of the freezer this morning and wasn't very excited about it. I needed to come up with something else for it. The weather is cooling down way to fast for August and soup sounded great! I browsed around chowder recipes on the internet and put this together, it is very flavorful and oh so delicious! Katya (5) said she wanted to eat the entire pot: "Thank you Mom, it's so good, I want to eat the whole pot!"

Ingredients: 

2 red or white potatoes
8 slices bacon, cut into 1/4 inch strips
1/2 white or yellow onion, diced small
1 small jar of mexi-corn
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 T thyme
1 bay leaf
1/8 t dried red pepper flakes
2 T parsley

1 can clam juice
3 C whole milk (you could reduce the milk and add more clam juice)
4 good sized servings of salmon fillets, skin removed and cut into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces

1 t salt, and to taste
1 1/2  t liquid smoke
1/4 t black pepper

Directions: 

Cut potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes, cook in salt water until tender, but not falling apart, they can finish cooking in soup later.
Fry bacon in a medium pot, stirring until crisp. Transfer to a paper towel leaving grease in the pan.
Add onion, corn, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, parsley, red pepper flakes to fat in the pot and cook until onions are tender, 5-8 minutes.
Add clam juice and milk and bring to a boil.
Reduce to low heat and add potatoes, salmon, bacon, salt, pepper and liquid smoke. Stirring occasionally until salmon is cooked through and begins to break up.
Season with salt to taste and discard bay leaf before serving.

Katya (5) David (3)

Playing in the mud while I was cooking supper.