I’m increasingly concerned with the warm weather we’re experiencing. Normally the high temperatures are in the 50s at this time of year. I’d be pruning my roses. However, they are now sprouting new growth and I haven’t pruned yet. I’d like to rough-prune my grapevines, but I’m afraid that activity will encourage an early bud break. It is certainly a crazy winter.

This is the earliest I’ve seen asparagus coming up in my perennial bed. I’ve been picking them, but wonder if we aren’t going to have another hard freeze soon. Like most people, I’m just doing the best I can, and I am trusting that it will all work out – maybe not for the best, but it will work out.

My husband has tilled one of my three vegetable plots and will soon complete the other two. I’ll have onion sets planted by the end of the week. I just have to keep planning for the future. In doing just that, I’ve looked through my freezer and found a bag of frozen roasted chile peppers that I put away last year. I want to use up the vegetables in my freezer so that I’ll have room when I harvest this coming summer. This soup is a great way to use fresh or frozen vegetables.

Roasted Green Chiles and Corn Chowder
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. butter
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tsp. cumin
3 tsp. red chile powder
2 bay leaves
6 c. vegetable broth
4 c. potatoes, cubed
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 c. roasted green chiles, diced
3-4 c. corn
1/2 lemon, juiced

Begin by sautéing onions in olive oil and butter for about 15 minutes. Then add the garlic, cumin, chile powder and bay leaves. Cook for about 5 minutes and then add the broth. Immediately add the potatoes, salt and pepper and stir, bringing the contents up to a boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer about 10 minutes.

Add the thawed roasted green chilies and corn and cook until they are heated throughout. Removed the bay leaves and about half of the potatoes, corn and onion.

Then use an immersion blender and purée the rest of the mixture in the pot. If you want a chunkier chowder, remove more of the chunks before puréeing. If you like a soupier mixture, remove less.
Add the chunks of potatoes, corn and onion back to the pot along with the lemon juice. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.

Serve garnished with torn cilantro leaves, grated cheese and fat-free Greek yogurt. A little Louisiana hot sauce is also good to add before serving. I toasted tortilla chips with grated cheese to serve on the side.