Well, technically it isn’t chowder since it doesn’t have potatoes, although you could put them in if you wanted to. There are several good things about this dish other than being tasty. It can cook in as little as 30 minutes, you can do the chopping beforehand if you want to and simply pop the chopped vegetables in the refrigerator, it can be made lean and low-fat, it includes a serving of vegetables, it freezes well, and I suspect it can be prepared in a slow cooker, although we’ve never tried that. As with many of the dishes we cook, you can spice it up if you’d like with dried peppers, although we tend to use only a little red pepper in this one. We do use the leanest type of meat we can find, but that’s a personal preference.

Ingredients are: 1-1.5 pounds of ground beef (or substitute ground turkey or chicken); 1 can tomatoes; 1 can sweet corn, 1 can cream style corn; 1 can cream soup (onion, celery, mushroom – your choice); 1 small or 1/2 medium onion, chopped; 1 rib of celery, chopped;  salt and pepper to taste; 1-2 Tablespoons olive oil for browning meat. Optional seasonings – 1/2 teaspoon each red pepper flakes;dried oregano, rosemary, and basil. Optional vegetable – 1/2 green, yellow, or red pepper, chopped.

Brown the meat in a 3-4 quart dutch oven or similar pot. Remove the meat, cook the vegetables for 3-5 minutes, until soft. Add browned meat and all other ingredients. Stir throughly and cook over medium heat until it begins to bubble. Stir again. Cover and look on low for 30 minutes or up to an hour if you have time. Stir occasionally and keep an eye on the liquid. The consistency you are looking for will be a thick soup, so you might need to add a little beef or chicken broth as it cooks.

This is another dish that we serve with crusty bread and a big salad on the side. We usually drink beer with it, although it pairs well with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Beaujolais, Malbec, or Pinot Noir, too.