Makes 10 cups
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup chopped onion
4 Tbs. flour
4 cups chicken broth
1 (4 oz.) can chopped green chilies
4 cups diced baked potatoes
2 (14.5 oz.) cans cream style corn
1 Tbs. dried parsley
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
3 Tbs. cooked bacon bits
1 1/2 cups half&half (or heavy cream to make it extra creamy)
Saute onion in butter until tender.
Stir in flour and chilies, cook about 1 minute.
Using an immersion blender, blend this mixture smooth.
Add chicken broth and whisk smooth.
Stir in green chilies, baked potatoes, cream style corn, parsley, cheddar cheese, salt, pepper, and bacon bits.
Heat to boiling, stirring constantly or it will stick.
Reduce heat and simmer 5-10 min.
Add half&half. Heat about 10 min.
How we got soupy
Customers began to demand more. We were changing our entrees daily, but still keeping the favorites because we knew we’d be drawn and quartered if we didn’t.
We had awesome loyal customers that shopped with us weekly, sometimes daily. They began asking so nicely if we might add some breads and salads to our refrigerators so the meal would be complete for them when they got off work. They truly appreciated not having to cook something from scratch after a long day at work, but still having a homemade meal, and for just a little more than the ingredients alone would’ve cost them.
We also had some demanding customers that only came in occasionally to tell us what we were doing wrong and to remind us that our prices were too high. Apparently, we were supposed to be selling a freshly-made meal for 4 at a price lower than just the pan we served it in cost. No … not possible. Yes … we actually had this said to us.
One such “demanding” customer, a brand new one, came in with a sour expression. After reading our prominent, brightly lit signage stating that we were a “ready-made meal company,” a “take and bake” establishment, a “prepackaged product” kinda place, she approached the counter, and lucky me was the one standing there. She asked if she could order lunch. I explained that we made meals and packaged them for customers to take with them. I showed her the salads in the case as a lunch option. She squinted her eyes and looked confused as she surveyed the open kitchen behind me.
“So I can’t just order some food to eat here?”
We had one beautiful little table with 4 chairs around it that my parents had bought me to put in the storefront. It was well covered with our products. It was obviously not a place to sit and eat. Or so I thought.
I responded, with forced smile, “No. We aren’t equipped to serve here. We don’t have the seating or the ability to cook for individuals as they come in.”
She cocked her head, “You have an oven right there and a stovetop. You can’t cook me something from the fridge?”
Now, it had been a long week/couple of months worth of demanding people asking seemingly impossible things. Can you make me a special meatloaf with no meat? Could you leave the onions out of the soup but make it taste like the onions are in there? (I actually liked this suggestion, as I hate biting into onions.) Could you package this chicken and rice in single-serve freeze-wrapped bags for me?
I blinked and took a deep breath, “We do have an oven and stovetop but they are full right now with baked goods and things simmering for the dinner meal packages. We stay pretty busy just trying to keep the refrigerators full for meals that can be taken home and baked fresh there. Someday, maybe we’ll add a fresh lunch.”
She looked over at the fridge and began to move toward it.
JoAnne, who was busy making a batch of chicken and dumplings, came forward and offered, “I just got a batch of chicken and dumplings ready for the case, if you’d like a bowl of that, I can package that for you.”
The customer brightened, “Yes, please.”
JoAnne grabbed a styrofoam bowl from the back shelf where we kept the things we used for ourselves, and Rebecca wrapped up a piece of cornbread fresh from the oven. She then cleared the lady a place to sit at the table and offered her some sweet tea.
I was aggravated that she’d gotten her way. But I soon realized Rebecca and JoAnne had a good read on her.
That lady left happy and became one of our best customers, telling others about us and generating quite a bit of business.
After she left, I thanked them for taking over and handling her.
Rebecca said, “She was a little difficult. But she’s not totally wrong. We could keep some bread and lunchmeat here for people who want that.”
JoAnne added, “And we could offer a soup of the day. We’d just have to get styrofoam packaging for it.”
Good ideas sometimes come to us, and sometimes good ideas are forced upon us.
This soup was developed as a way to offer a hearty twist on a potato soup and to incorporate the aforementioned request to leave pesky, chunky onions out, but make it taste like it has onions in it. Not impossible ….
For a crowd:
Makes 2.5 gallons
2 cups butter (8 sticks)
3 cups chopped onion
1 cup flour
16 cups chicken broth (1 gallon)
4 (4 oz.) can chopped green chilies
16 cups diced baked potatoes
8 (14.5 oz.) cans cream style corn
4 Tbs. dried parsley
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
4 tsp. salt
4 tsp. black pepper
3/4-1 cup cooked bacon bits
6 cups half&half (or heavy cream to make it extra creamy)
Saute onion in butter until tender.
Stir in flour and chilies, cook about 1 minute.
Using an immersion blender, blend this mixture smooth.
Add chicken broth and whisk smooth.
Stir in green chilies, baked potatoes, cream style corn, parsley, cheddar cheese, salt, pepper, and bacon bits.
Heat to boiling, stirring constantly or it will stick.
Reduce heat and simmer 5-10 min.
Add half&half. Heat about 10 min.
