Crockpot Tuesday: Nicole's Corn Chowder

     Hello October!! I hope your October has started out great! It's been one heck of a week and a half here. So much going on between birthdays, weddings, traveling, and a mud race (yes, you read that right- it was SO much fun!!). It's nice to know that we aren't doing any traveling for almost the whole month of October but we are going to be having some visitors. And than its Halloween! I love Halloween! It's so much fun to dress up and I love getting the girls all dressed up. Lilly wants to be Bat Girl and I think Zoeis going to be a kitty cat. Still a little on the fence with that, but I have to make up my mind very soon.

   Well, it's that time of week: Crockpot Tuesday! And today I am making 'Nicole's Corn Chowder'. Although the name is very fitting and this is one of my favorite cold weather meals, I can not take any credit for it. I found it on Pinterest (of course), but all the credit must go to The Crockin' Girls.  Click here for the actual recipe. I don't stray much from the actual recipe, but instead of using canned corn I usually use frozen corn. Today is the first time I'm using canned corn in mine. Also, this is great for left over ham. I buy the center cut ham steak, but if you just made a ham this is a great options to use up some of those left overs.

Everything you need:

• Potatoes - peeled and diced. I used 5 because mine were small. 
• 1 Can cream corn
• 1 Can whole kernel corn - drain the water out of the can
• 2 Cups chicken broth
• 1 Center Ham Steak - cut into cubes
• 1 Cup diced onions - I used one whole yellow onion
• 1/4 Cup butter
• 2 Cups half and half 

What to do:

• Add the potatoes and everything down to the onions into the crock pot. Cook on low for about 7 hours (this will actually cook for about 6 1/2 hours for me). 
• 30 minutes before serving mash up the potatoes in the crockpot and add in the butter and half and half. Crank the temp up to high for 30 minutes.

   I'm making some Pillsbury croissants  rolls to go with this. Cornbread is another great option. You don't have to make bread with it, but I like to dip it into the corn chowder.

   And that's it. This meal is perfect for cold fall and winter nights. It's hearty and will hit the spot for a warm comforting dinner. The left overs are amazing too!

   I've actually never checked out The Crockin' Girls website before, but I think I'll need to be checking them out. Let me know if you try this out and what you think. Do you have your own version of Corn Chowder that's amazing? If so share it with me!

   Thanks so much for taking a timeout with me! I'll talk to you soon!

XO,
 Nikki