Corn Chowder

The last time I went to the farmer's market, I had a craving for corn.  Delicious, sweet corn dripping in butter and salt.  The stand I bought from was selling two different varieties:  Peaches & Cream and Sweet Yellow.  Not knowing which I would prefer, I bought a half dozen of each.  As it turned out, the peaches and cream was delicious, not sweet yellow, not so much.  It was sort of very unsweet!  Nobody wanted to eat it anymore.  Now if you know me at all, it drives me nuts to throw food out, so I was on the hunt to some how redeem the sweet yellow corn that was not so sweet.  I came upon this recipe in my internet travels.  It was a slow cooker recipe, so that sealed the deal, I was trying it.    The only problem was I did not have bacon.  So in true James Barber fashion, who was all about using what you have, I used the 3 smoked mennonite sausages I had in the fridge.  And it was delicious.  You could not tell at all that the corn was a dud.  Yum!  This is going into my tried and true file, for sure.

SLOW COOKER CORN CHOWDER
Adapted from Mama Loves Food Corn and Potato Chowder Recipe for the Crock Pot Slow Cooker

-5 ears of raw corn, shucked and corn cut off husk
-5 medium potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
-3 cooked smoked sausage links, sliced into bite size pieces
-1 medium to large onion, diced
-1 cup celery, diced
-4 large cloves of garlic, minced or crushed
-1/2 tsp. seasoning salt
-4 cups chicken stock
-1 cup half & half + 1 cup milk (or if you're not watching your waist line go for and use all cream!)
-salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients into slow cooker except the cream/milk and salt and pepper.  Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 10 hours.  Remove the sausage out of the soup and with an immersion blender blend about half the soup or to the consistency you want.  (You can also use a regular blender.  Remove the center piece out of the lid to allow steam to escape.  Lightly cover with a dish towel to prevent hot spray and blend.  Return blended soup to the crock.)  Add sausages back and add cream/milk.  Salt and pepper to taste.