Corn Chowder for Lunch

Found another recipe that's a definate keeper.  In an effort to just use what I have on hand and not go to the store, with the possible exception of fresh fruit or vegetables if I run out, I have been searching for recipes that introduce new dishes to my regular repetoire of the tried and true ones.  I came across this one for corn chowder (click on for link). It is really good!!!  My only change was to add fresh tarragon and lemon thyme from the garden instead of just the fresh thyme the recipe calls for.

Made this for lunch and served with the last of the bread I did in the bread machine with spreadable butter our family is now hooked on. 

Frugal tip:  Spreadable Butter (click on for link)  this is something I've been using for a few months now and has worked so well for us.  As my old post states, we love butter and always had a stick of butter in a container for use on the counter as it gets too hard in the refrigerator.  With our use in cooking and for bread, bagels, etc,  we were going through a lot of butter.  Then with the heat this past summer, despite the air conditioning the butter was melting.   So when I first tried this it was just to have something I could put in the frig and still be able to use on bread without the gloppy mess it makes when it's too hard.  This recipe did the trick.  What I hadn't anticpated as a side benefit, was that by making a pound of this at a time, extended because of the oil and water and  it being so easy to spread we significantly cut down on the total amount of butter we'd been going through.  This reduction has taken us from using 8 sticks or 2lbs. a month to 1lb. and sometimes even less because this spread seems to go SO much further.  If you've priced butter lately you know that adds up quickly.

So, if like us you don't like or won't use margarine, this is a helpful and frugal way of extending your butter without the loss of flavor and making it easily spreadable.  It's a win-win situation : )