Ham, Potato, Corn and Spinach Chowder

So, I am home by myself and starving. I got to thinking about soup I had as a child with farmer's sausage and potato. While I am living in Canada again for the first time in years and actually have farmer's sausage in my freezer, I also had left over ham. So, here is my take on a hearty, yummy soup that most people can probably make with leftovers from a big ham dinner. Give it a whirl, I think you will be pleased. Note that I added a kind of weird ingredient of greek sour cream because I thought it would add a nice sourness to the soup (kind of like buttermilk) and I happened to have some in the house. I think regular sour cream (but probably not lowfat) would work too.

• Ready In: 30 mins
• Serves: 4-6
• Yields: 6-8 cups

Ingredients

• 2  cups  left-over ham
• 1  left-over baked potato (although if you don't have this you could certainly peel and boil some first)
• 1  tablespoon butter
•  onion flakes (weird right? but I didn't have any fresh onions....)
•  garlic powder
•  flour
•  milk
•  chicken broth
•  salt
•  pepper
•  frozen spinach, nuggets (2)
•  dill (to taste)
• 2  cups corn (I used the gold or white corn from Kroger or Fred Meyer)

Directions

1. melt about 1 tablespoon of butter in a pan (real butter is sooo much better than margarine, trust me on this).
2. add in about a teaspoon of onion flakes to rehydrate and soften.
3. when the butter gets a bit brown add 2 tablespoons of flour.
4. whisk together until you have "cooked" the flour (about 30 seconds).
5. add 2 cups of milk and whisk until smooth.
6. add a cup of chicken broth. I actually used chicken bouillon because that is what I had.
7. add one heaping tablespoon of greek sour cream (see notes about using regular sour cream instead).
8. Add 2 nuggets of chopped frozen spinach.
9. let simmer on low while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
10. add a couple shakes of garlic powder.
11. I put in A LOT of black pepper but do it to your taste.
12. Add dill to taste as well, I used dry because that is what I had, but fresh would be super good.
13. Chop up about 2 cups of ham into bite sized pieces.
14. open the corn and drain.
15. peel one big left over baked potato and chop into bite sized pieces.
16. Add all the ham, potato and corn.
17. Taste and add extra dill, pepper if desired. I added another tablespoon of sour cream because I thought it would taste good.
18. Let simmer until all the ingredients are hot and the spinach is dispersed throughout.
19. and eat!