I love this recipe. It is such a comfort food for me. My mom used to make this for us growing up and did so again the other night when Perkin and I went over for dinner. I decided to take pictures and post about it.

Ingredients:

2 leeks sliced, washed thoroughly
1 bag of mini potatoes or a few large potatoes chopped into cubes
Frozen or fresh corn, about 2 cups
1 anise bulb sliced thinly. Save fronds to chop up and sprinkle on top of soup
1 jalapeno chopped
1 bunch tarragon
1/4 cup flour (or arrowroot)
1 quart non fat milk (or clam broth)
2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions:

Take all of the veggies except for the corn and tarragon and sauté in deep-dish fry pan with a little olive oil until the leeks turn pale gold and the potatoes are cooked. Push ingredients to the side of the pan. In the empty side of the pan, slowly add the remaining olive oil and flour until it becomes a paste (we are making a white roux). Stir in about 1/2 cup of the non-fat milk, slowly incorporating it into the paste. Once thoroughly blended and bubbly, slowly add the remaining milk and stir until all is blended, then mix with the vegetables in the pan. The soup will thicken more as it cooks, so don't worry if it seems a little thin now. Mash a few of the potatoes into the soup. Add corn and tarragon. Cook until thickened and the corn is warm. Sprinkle some anise fronds on top. Add salt and pepper to taste.

*If you want it sweeter, cream of corn is delicious in here (even though it is not the healthiest option)!

Healthy hint: Clam broth instead of milk can be added if you are avoiding dairy. Arrowroot can be substituted for the flour as a thickener if you are avoiding gluten.

By the way, these pics came from my iPhone! Pretty proud of that :)

Healthy corn chowder