Soup: Bacon & Crab Chowder

I didn't cook as much as I'd planned for the week.  We kept it simple going into the Thanksgiving holiday.  This chowder popped out at me when I got the little email up-date in my hotmail account that I use for newsletters and commercial email listserv type communication.

I used a combination of vacuum sealed chunk crab and imitation crab. The boys thought the imitation crab was hideous cold, which floored me, because I used to steal that stuff from the counter any chance I got if Mom & Dad were cooking with it, but at least the kiddos thought it was good in the soup.  The Man liked the imitation crab better; I liked the real stuff.  They were not even remotely similar in taste or texture for this application, but both were good.

I also happened to throw in some leftover corn and an overripe tomato to get them used up when we had the meal again a second night, and no one thought it was any worse for the addition.  It served the four table-food eaters for two meals (with a crusty whole grain wheat bread & some butter on the side) plus the Man and I each took some for lunch one day to work and there is a tiny little serving left in the fridge to be finished this weekend. I've noticed that Rachael's portions seems to be pretty generous compared to what we eat, but the boys are little, so we'll see if I keep thinking that.

The second night, before I reheated the chowder on the stove top, I mixed up a light roux to thicken it up a bit. I don't know if it's because I used 2% milk instead of the whole that it called for, but it was thinner than I like my chowders to be, and the roux did the trick.

We didn't have oyster crackers on hand, but The Sassy One had cheese-Ritz Bitz from his Auntie staying the night before, as she always comes bearing treats, so we all munched a few of those.  We also skipped on the chives, only because I hadn't been to the store in a few days to get any.

The Man & I tried several hot sauces and both agreed that Frank's, while usually our favorite, wasn't quite right for this recipe.  I really enjoyed Tobasco and he preferred simple crushed red pepper.  There's lots of room for interpretation in this one.

Enjoy!