Every year we have chili at Halloween. Generally all the neighbors gather in one yard, consolidating candy and food, and await the kiddos. Sandy made it hard to plan, so we were all pretty much on our own. Plus Cal had homework. And don't even get me started on the science homework. At least not here. But still, I made chili, like I always do. And you're probably thinking, is she ever going to photograph anything besides soup? Maybe next week.

Lauren's Halloween Chili, slightly different every time

2-3 chicken breasts, cubed

1 onion chopped

cooking sherry

1 can cream style corn

2 cans great northern beans, drained

1 can white hominy, drained

add to taste:

chili powder

cumin

brown sugar

red pepper flakes

garlic salt

Sauté onion in a bit of olive oil. Once translucent, add chicken cubes and sauté until golden brown. (Now. I wanted the chicken carmelized, but I also wanted it shredded, so once browned, I took the time to pull the cubes of chicken out to cool. You could just as easily leave the chicken cubed and in the pan.) Add sherry to deglaze the pan and reduce. Once the sherry has reduced, add corn, beans and hominy, along with the spices. If you've removed the chicken, shred it and add it back now. Bring to a boil and simmer on low for several hours so the spices meld.

Garnish with corn chips, cheddar cheese, and/or sour cream.

To my mind, the key to this dish is the sherry (always), the brown sugar (always), the cumin (always), and this year's generous helping of chili powder. It's always better when you put your own stamp on it.

I'm not going to lie. This really is the best corn chowder I've ever had. I had lunch with my friend Catherine last week and ordered a cheddar corn chowder and mine wins, hands down. Not that I'm bragging or anything. It's just that good.

We're big soup eaters around here. Callum has loved soup since he was a little little one. Our go-to lunch from when he was wee was generally soup and a quesadilla. Haven't added the quesadilla in awhile, maybe it's time. Back when Callum was so young, I relied on canned soups, I have to admit. It's just the way we rolled back then. We're still known to pull back the lid on a can of soup now and then, but when I make soup for me and Neel to share for our weekday lunches, there's really not much better. We were not incredibly inclined to share this go-around.

Bacon Corn Chowder, adapted from Cooking Light

6 slices bacon, chopped

1/2 cup onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 bag frozen corn, thawed (I used Trader Joes Roasted Corn, and I think it was one of the keys to the success of this dish)

2 cups chicken broth

1/3 cup half and half

sherry

salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large Dutch oven on medium to high heat, add bacon and cook for roughly four minutes until it browns. Remove bacon from pan and drain on paper towels. Add onion and celery to pan and sauté until soft, five minutes. Add garlic and sauté for a minute more. Deglaze pan with sherry. (Another key to the success of the dish, if you ask me. Just sayin'.) Add corn and stir until combined and warm, and then add the broth. Bring to a boil and cook for four minutes.

Put two cups of mixture in a blender (keep lid slightly vented so you don't have corn soup on the ceiling!) and blend until smooth. Return blended portion of soup to Dutch oven and stir to combine. Add half and half and additional sherry (as well as salt and pepper) to taste.

Note: The orginal Cooking Light recipe calls for cooking shrimp in the soup, and I think some sautéd shrimp would be great as a garnish. Too cumbersome for us for weekdays, but you can betcha we'll be trying that some evening.

chili {life}

chowdered {life}