Simply Homemade: Mexican Corn Chowder

So my co-workers are genius and came up with the concept of a soup club. The premise is simple, you want to join in all you have to do is sign up on an upcoming Wednesday to bring a crockpot of delicious soup. Then, every Wednesday for the foreseeable future, you get to enjoy other people’s soup offerings and they, in turn, get to enjoy yours when it’s your turn to contribute. I can’t tell you how in love with this I am for so many reasons but here are the top three reasons:

1) I get to eat soup once a week every week for lunch at work and don’t have to worry about bringing something for lunch those days.

2) I get to put together blog posts of my favorite soups when it’s my turn to bring soup for the week.

3) I get to try out other people’s soups and, inevitably, strike up discussions around their recipes so I can add it to my secret recipe stash to try later.

The more people in the club, the longer the soup club runs. Just a couple people? Simply bring a smaller portion of soup and only do it for a couple weeks. Or, when you get to a high number of people wanting in, you change it so two people bring soups each week so there’s enough soup for everyone to enjoy. The bright side of this is that one person is still only responsible for one crockpot. The people in the soup club I’m part of at my work really thought this through. There around 20+ people in our group so the organizer decided that each week one person could sign up to bring a creamy soup and the second could sign up for non-creamy. That way, no one ends up bringing the same kind of soup and everyone gets to sample two soups if they so desire OR get to pick from two options each week. Brilliant!

Planning this makes people look forward to coming into the office (at least once a week anyways!). It also makes the whole office smell the aromas of soups being cooked/warmed so it’s like walking into your grandma’s house and just wanting to immediately sit down for dinner. it’s amazing to see the creativity some people bring and some of the traditional comfort soups others make. I’ve tried soups I didn’t know existed and now are in my family’s regular rotation (hellooooooo jalapeño popper soup, say what?!). I’ve gained tips from seasoned soup veterans (roast that garlic before adding it in, adds multiple layers of flavor!). I’ve even been able to share some of my own family’s staple recipes. Cue…this blog post!

Mexican corn chowder is such a simple recipe with such an incredible palette for flavor! I love the fact that it calls for some many ingredients that you have options with. Rotel and chopped green chilies: mild, medium, or hot – your choice! Hot sauce: cholula chipotle or chili garlic or original or a combination of any of your own favorites. Shredded cheese: Monterey Jack, sharp cheddar, taco blend, pepper jack – dealer’s choice! Personally, I prefer medium rotel and green chilies and equal parts of the three kinds of cholula listed above then a mix of Monterey Jack and Colby jack cheeses. But you go ahead and choose to your spicy loving or mild natured heart’s desire! If the end result isn’t spicy enough feel free to add more hot sauce. If it’s too spicy, tone it down with some sour cream or additional half and half. The beauty of this recipe is it’s adaptability..and it’s warming, comforting deliciousness of course!!

My apologies for the lack of pictures, I made this for soup club this past week at work and we all dug in and didn’t stop until it was gone; I missed my slim chance of an opportunity for photo ops! Just picture a creamy soup base with some pops of color from the tomatoes and chilies and some beautiful color from the cumin and you now have a visual 😉 Enjoy!