Warm Corn Chowder Salad- My Take.

I will openly admit, though some of my Idaho and Utah friends may think of it as blasphemous, that I am NOT a big fan of meat. 

It weighs you down, makes you feel heavy, and gives you a general all around "blah" feeling.

However, I feel like it needs to be at least a small part of the human diet (we have canine teeth for cripes sakes! It's SCIENCE PEOPLE!) and, let's be honest- I have cravings and, though it is heavy and makes me feel kind of gross afterwards, I do have the occasional craving for a Big Mac, Whopper, or a nice juicy steak. I'm human and when I am craving meat, I would prefer to chow down. 

This whole week I've been sick, tired and feeling blah...and tonight I REALLY didn't want to cook, but I also didn't want to eat something heavy and greasy like pizza. I had to fight the urge to order sandwiches from Pizza Hut (their sandwiches are the BOMB the night you order them, but be warned, they are not so bomb diggity the next day.) Then I remembered I had this recipe on my meal plan and hadn't made it yet. Light, easy, and quick...magic words when you're so tired you can barely see straight.

So,  as promised, here is my adaptation for THIS recipe. Sorry, its not a photo tutorial (the babies wouldn't cooperate for me to be in the kitchen that long.), but I did take a picture of the end result. P.S> TODDLER FRIENDLY ALERT! My girls DEVOURED this...Don't believe me? I took a few pictures of them devouring it for proof (you'll see them later.)

What did I need to adapt? Well... I'm not a HUGE fan of raw onions. I LOVE me some veggies, and can eat most of them raw with no problems, but onions and I aren't friends unless they are sauteed, sweet and tender...I also don't care for jalepenos. I LOVE spicy food, but not jalepenos (I know, I'm weird.)   I also felt like it just needed a little more variety when it came to veggies. I love corn and potatoes, but they are both high in carbohydrates and I just needed a little something extra in there to balance them out... 

Read on:

I took 5 strips of bacon and chopped them up into bite sized pieces, I also diced 1/3 of a medium sized red onion, and 1/3 of a green pepper. I threw them all in the pan together...While the bacon cooked, the onions and peppers sauteed in the grease.When the bacon was just about cooked and the onions were almost done, I chopped 1/2 c of spinach (I used it sparingly, but would have put more in if I hadn't needed to share with my girls) and tossed it in the pan. I cooked it until it was just beginning to wilt. I then dumped the contents of the pan into a bowl and set it aside.

Next, I ran a stick of butter over the pan to lightly coat it and sprayed that with some Pam to keep it from burning.  I then added 2 1/2 c of diced red potatoes (cut into about 1/4 inch cubes) to the pan. I salted, peppered, and onion powdered to what I believed would taste good. Tossed the potatoes around to mix the seasonings, and then covered the pan and left it for about 3 minutes. This allows the potatoes to brown on one side while becoming tender in the middle. It basically cuts your cook time in half. I stirred the potatoes, covered them and repeated the process. I tasted the potatoes after about 6 minutes to check seasonings (you don't want to over salt, remember you will have the bacon in there later) and to see how tender they were (it took about 10 minutes for my potatoes to be tender.) 

Once the potatoes were tender. I added 3/4 c frozen corn to the pan and cooked the mix, stirring occasionally, until the corn was cooked through. Your potatoes should have a lightly browned, crispy exterior at this point.  Go ahead and toss back in the bacon mixture. Cook together to meld flavors and reheat bacon mixture for 2-5 ish minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar. Stir well to get the vinegar to dress the whole mix. (I was apprehensive about the vinegar too. To be honest, I kind of wish I'd added a splash more after I tasted it. When you add just enough it really makes the sweetness of the corn, onions, and bell peppers pop and brings out the lovely smoky flavor of the bacon. If you're really nervous, just add it in splashes, mix and taste it to be sure that its to your liking.)

Et Voila!

Again, I wish I'd added more spinach. 

Oddly enough, the Cupcake surprised me by picking through her food to find the spinach and eat it first and then ate everything else. As suspected, the Little Diva, who loves spinach when its raw, ate around it and ignored it in cooked form. 

Oh yeah...you need the pictoral proof that toddlers love this...Well then, here ya go:

The end!

Hugs and loves until next time, darlings!